A past One Mind “Rising Star” award winner, Johns Hopkins scientist Dr. Akira Sawa’s star is still rising. Since he received his Staglin Music Festival/NARSAD grant in 2007, his research has grown from developing a DISC1 mouse schizophrenia model to finding potential ways to remedy DISC1 deficiency, locating possible schizophrenia biomarkers, and more. In 2008 he became Director of the Silvio O. Conte Center for Schizophrenia Research at Johns Hopkins. Today, Dr. Sawa has been appointed to also lead the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center at the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Says Dr. J. Raymond DePaulo, Chairman of the Department, “I am delighted that Dr. Sawa will lead the Center. The Schizophrenia Center unifies the wealth of talent and expertise in translational research and clinical care within the department as we seek to find the causes of schizophrenia, translate that scientific knowledge into better treatment for patients, reach out to the public, and teach the next generation of clinicians and researchers.”

We at One Mind congratulate Dr. Sawa on his success!