2017 Research Award

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Announces its 2017 Scientific Research Award Recipient

NAMI is pleased to announce that the 2017 Scientific Research Award will be presented to Sophia Vinogradov, M.D. on Thursday evening, December 7 at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. Dr. Vinogradov is the Donald W. Hastings Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and Department Head of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Dr. Vinogradov directs a translational clinical neuroscience laboratory that focuses on improving cognition for individuals with schizophrenia. In collaboration with basic scientists, she studies neuroscience-informed computerized cognitive training exercises for patients with schizophrenia that aim to drive enduring plastic changes in cortical processing. She probes brain changes in both early sensory processing and higher-order cognitive operations in subjects who undergo this cognitive training.

Recently, she has begun to apply these methods to the study of adolescents who are prodromal for schizophrenia and young adults in early psychosis with the goal of delaying or preventing the onset of a deteriorating psychiatric illness. Her work has contributed to a growing interest in the use of computerized “brain training” to facilitate brain information processing for people with psychiatric illnesses. She was a participant at the White House conference on “Video Games to Enhance Attention and Well-Being.”

Prior to her work in Minnesota, Dr. Vinogradov was the Vice-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. She received her M.D. from Wayne State University School of Medicine, obtained her psychiatry residency training at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she served as Chief Resident, and completed a Psychiatric Neurosciences Research Fellowship at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center and Stanford University.

Her work truly exemplifies our theme of “Inspiring Hope Through Research.”