In March 2025 the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences launched the Dr. Mark S. Gold endowed lectureship in translational neuroscience. This annual lectureship series brings internationally renowned researchers to present at our colloquium and interact with undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdocs and faculty across Washington University campuses and schools.  

Professor Sir Robin Murray from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London gave the inaugural Mark S. Gold lecture and spent multiple days with students and faculty. Professor Murray, who has led groundbreaking work on schizophrenia, is recognized as one of the most influential researchers in psychiatry. In his lecture, Professor Murray reviewed decades of his research (including some in collaboration with Dr. Emma Johnson, a faculty member of the Washington University Psychiatry Department) tackling whether the well documented link between cannabis use and schizophrenia may reflect a causal consequence of cannabis, a correlated risk factor, and/or an epiphenomenon.  Using a host of different methods including epidemiological, longitudinal, genetic and clinical studies, Professor Murray reviewed evidence that cannabis use may plausibly contribute to schizophrenia. As laws and sociocultural attitudes surrounding cannabis use have  become increasing permissive and the potency of cannabis continues to rise, this research is incredibly valuable to inform individual choices and policy.  

The series was made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Mark S. Gold, M.D., a pioneering neuroscientist whose formative work in addiction psychiatry has transformed conceptualizations of addiction from stigmatized conditions to brain-based disorders and contributed to significant treatment advances that have saved countless lives (e.g., medications that treat opioid withdrawal and reduce substance cravings). Dr. Gold maintains close ties to Washington University in Saint Louis and our department. His undergraduate degree was completed with honors in our department prior to earning his M.D. from the University of Florida, where he later became chair of the department of Psychiatry. He has been awarded a distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University and since his retirement has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in Saint Louis and an active member of the Clinical Council Public Health Institute.