Building on the foundational aspirations of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), the 2005 General Assembly in Cairo established the Institutional Program on Psychiatry for the Person to promote psychiatry of the person, for the person, by the person and with the person. This initiative has been received enthusiastically throughout WPA and now its expansion is being actively explored with a number of major international medical and health organizations. As part of this endeavor, a Geneva Conference on Person-centered Medicine is being organized for May 29-30, 2008.

Now, the Executive Committee of WPA has established the Pinel Prize on Psychiatry for the Person: Articulating Medicine’s Science and Humanism to honor an extraordinary health professional that has made outstanding international contributions to person-centered medicine (at large) or psychiatry (in particular). The winner of the Pinel Prize will receive USD 10,000 and will deliver a Special Lecture at World Congresses of Psychiatry. Support for the Prize will be provided as an unrestricted grant by Pierre Fabre Laboratories.

The winner of the Pinel Prize will be selected by a jury composed of the President of WPA who will chair it, the Chair or delegate of the WPA Institutional Program on Psychiatry for the Person, the President or representative of partnering institutions, and two or three additional members selected from the international health community.

We are now calling for nominations for the first edition of the Pinel Prize. They should be presented on the enclosed two-page Nomination Form, including the name, institutional affiliation, contact information, the nominator’s statement, and a one-page biographical summary of worthy candidates, who have never been members of the WPA Executive Committee, Board or Council nor of the current leadership of Prize-selection partnering institutions or of pharmaceutical companies. They should be submitted to the WPA Secretariat located at Geneva University Psychiatric Hospital, 2 Chemin du Petit-Bel-Air, 1225 Chene-Bourg, Geneva, Switzerland; Fax (41-22) 305-5735; E-mail: wpasecretariat@wpanet.org. Deadline for nominations is March 21, 2008.

Thank you for your help in identifying suitable candidates who honor the health professions through high contributions and faithfulness to our fundamental aspirations.

Cordially yours,

Professor Juan E. Mezzich
President of the World Psychiatric Association
Chair, WPA Institutional Program on Psychiatry for the Person