I am very pleased to be able to introduce the three research papers which have placed first, second and third in the 2011 International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) Junior Research Awards in Psychogeriatrics. These papers represent the work of three promising young researchers in psychogeriatrics, and both IPA and International Psychogeriatrics are pleased to support such researchers by bringing their research findings to a wide audience.
As has been the case in prior years, eligible entrant first authors were required to be junior investigators within five years of the award of their terminal degree who were employed at a level no higher than Assistant Professor/Instructor at the time of entry submission. Their manuscripts were required not to be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and all of the usual criteria for research studies – for example with respect to ethical clearances and RCT reporting – were adhered to for these awards.
All award winners accepted their prizes and presented their results during the 2011 IPA 15th International Congress in The Hague, Netherlands. The presentation session was chaired by Professor Masatoshi Takeda, outgoing President of the IPA, as part of the opening ceremony of the Congress and was presented by myself as a member of the 2011 Junior Research Awards selection panel. The plenary session at which the three prize recipients presented their research findings, which I was privileged to chair, was one of the highlights of the Congress. As is often the case with bright young investigators, they presented their findings clearly, kept perfectly to time, and answered questions from the audience with aplomb. Certainly young investigator sessions are a pleasure to chair!
A total of 18 entries were received from 11 countries for this award round. The bulk of entries this year came from North America (three from the USA and two from Canada), Europe (three from The Netherlands and two from the UK), and India (two), with the following countries each with one submission: Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Singapore, South Korea and Russia. The Junior Research Committee consisted of Joel Sadavoy (chair, past president of IPA, University of Toronto, Canada), Nancy A. Pachana (deputy editor, International Psychogeriatrics and member of the IPA Board of Directors (BoD), University of Queensland, Australia), Mary Sano (member of IPA BoD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, USA), Paulo Caramelli (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), and Linda Lam (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China).
In the initial judging process, the 18 entries were whittled down to five finalists and then the judges voted for the three winners from among those papers. There was a clear consensus as to both the identity and the order of the three winning papers. Our prize recipients were as follows:
1st place: Ipsit Vahia, USA
Co-authors: Wesley K. Thompson, Colin A. Depp, Matthew Allison and Dilip V. Jeste
Title of paper: Developing a dimensional model for successful cognitive and emotional aging
2nd place: Charlotte L. Allan, UK
Co-authors: Claire E. Sexton, Ukwuori G. Kalu, Lisa M. McDermott, Mika Kivimäki, Archana Singh-Manoux, Clare E. Mackay and Klaus P. Ebmeier
Title of paper: Does the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile predict white-matter changes in late-life depression?
3rd place: Rosie Watson, UK
Co-authors: John T. O'Brien, Robert Barber and Andrew M. Blamire
Title of paper: Patterns of gray matter atrophy in dementia with Lewy bodies: a voxel-based morphometry study
As has been reported in relation to previous IPA research awards (Ames, Reference Ames2008), recent research award winning papers (for example, Andreescu et al., Reference Andreescu, Chang, Mulsant and Ganguli2008; Niti et al., Reference Niti, Yap, Kua, Tan and Ng2008; Palmer et al., Reference Palmer, Bachman, Windblad and Fratiglioni2008) continue to be downloaded very frequently from the journal's website (www.journals.cambridge.org/jid_IPG) and to figure prominently among the most cited papers contributing to the journal's annual impact factor (IF) measured by Thomson Scientific. I have no doubt that the three superb research papers which follow this introduction will be highly cited as well, and that our three prize-winning first authors are likely to prove continued supporters of and contributors to IPA and International Psychogeriatrics in the future.
I would strongly encourage all of our readers to urge their eligible students and peers to submit their research papers for this prestigious award. Publication in a prominent journal such as International Psychogeriatrics affords excellent exposure for up-and-coming researchers.
