At his February installation ceremony, the chair of the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences and professor of radiology presented his lab’s recent work and discussed how people’s memories perform better when they break longer events into shorter pieces, known as segmentation. The way our brains process and organize information can tell us a lot about human development, he said, especially when it is affected by diseases. “I’m in this line of work because I’m captivated by the bare, bald facts of human experience,” Zacks said.

WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) today announced that Deanna Barch is the recipient of the 2024 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health for her seminal contributions to advancing understanding of the developmental psychopathology and treatment of mental health disorders, in addition to her devoted mentorship of early career investigators. The award, which recognizes her achievements with a medal and $20,000, will be presented at the NAM Annual Meeting on Oct. 20. Barch is vice dean of research, Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry, and a professor of psychological and brain sciences and of radiology at Washington University in St. Louis.

A multi-institutional research project led by Todd Braver, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) award from the U.S. Department of Defense to study attention control and strategies to improve it.

Deanna Barch, the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry and professor of psychological and brain sciences, received the Gold Medal Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) at their annual meeting in San Diego. The award honors “pioneering contributions” to biological psychiatry and recognizes “significant and sustained work that advances and extends knowledge” in the field.