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Haim Belmaker

{{Short description|Israeli professor of psychiatry}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix = Prof.

| name = Robert Haim Belmaker

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| native_name = חיים בלמקר

| native_name_lang = he

| image = File:חיים_בלמקר.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date |1947|07|08}}

| birth_place = US

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| citizenship = Israel

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| education = BA from Harvard College in 1967, MD from Duke Medical School in 1971, Clinical Fellow at US National Institute of Mental Health 1972–1974

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| awards = Anna Monika Prize for Research in Depression (1983), the Ziskind-Somerfeld Prize for Senior Research in Psychiatry (1993), the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Lilly Research Award (1996), National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Lifetime Achievement Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for research in affective disorder (2000), Research prize of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (2004)

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| website = [http://www.doven.info/ Prof. Robert Haim Belmaker Website]

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Prof. Robert Haim Belmaker ({{Langx|he|חיים בלמקר}}; born 8 July 1947), is an Israeli psychiatrist who has had major academic positions in Israeli psychiatry since 1974. He had a formative influence on biological directions in Israeli psychiatry.Bernard Lerer, MD, [https://cdn.doctorsonly.co.il/2019/02/11_From-Freud-to-Biology.pdf From freud to biology, from genes to medicines:a 40 year perspective], Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences 55 (3), 2018 pp. 65–71 He was Hoffer-Vickar Professor of Psychiatry at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva Israel (holding the first named Chair of Psychiatry in Israel) until his retirement and is now Emeritus.

He was President of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2008–2010, President of the Israel Psychiatry Association 2015–2018, and Organizing Chair of the World Psychiatric Association Congress on Psychiatry and Religion held in Jerusalem, Israel in December 2019[https://www.rsp2019.org/ International Congress in Spirtuality and Psychiatry], World Psychiatric Association He has contributed editorials in the areas of treatment of bipolar disorder in 2007 and then in 2014 on antipsychotic treatment of bipolar disorder, on the potential of transcranial magnetic stimulation as a new frontier (1995) and on the future of randomised clinical trials (2015). An oral history of his research contributions is available at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology video archives[https://acnp.org/videos/robert-belmaker-by-joseph-calabrese/ Calabrese, Joseph. "Robert Belmaker by Joseph Calabrese". American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. ACNP.]

Education

Prof. Belmaker received his BA from Harvard College in 1967; his MD from Duke Medical School in 1971; and was a Clinical Fellow at US National Institute of Mental Health 1972–1974.

Research focus/interests

Prof. Belmaker has researched the mechanism of action of lithium in bipolar disorder throughout his career[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXLGPSCL14U What's new in research in lithium? 29th ECNP Congress, 2016] and focussed interest on second messenger systems in the brain, Biological Psychiatry, 1993, New England Journal of Medicine, (2007). He was one of the first psychiatrists to study a continuum between the molecular genetics of temperament and that of bipolar disorder and edited a seminal volume. He was one of the first investigators to see the potential for transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain as a treatment for depression, the first to study it in animal models of depression, and co-edited the first handbook of this treatment for psychiatric disorder that was widely influential for many years. In 2023 Springer Nature published his text (with Prof P. Lichtenberg) "Psychopharmacology Reconsidered: A Concise Text Exploring the Limits of Diagnosis and Treatment", the first textbook of psychopharmacology to emphasize the absence of any biological test for any psychiatric disorder, the lack of correlation between DSM-5 diagnoses and psychopharmacologic indication and mechanisms, high placebo response rates, and indications for withdrawing psychopharmacological treatment.Robert Haim Belmaker , Pesach Lichtenberg, [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-40371-2 Psychopharmacology Reconsidered - A Concise Guide Exploring the Limits of Diagnosis and Treatment], Springer, 2023 - Springer Website

Appointments

1. President of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) 2008–2010[https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/8260/bio Haim Belmaker Bio. Loop]

2. Vice-president of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2012–2014[https://www.emedevents.com/speaker-profile/robert-haim-belmaker Haim Belmaker Profile. Emed Events]

3. President of the Israel Psychiatric Association 2015–2018[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/mental-health-where-to-turn-for-help-in-israel-658612 Mental health: Where to turn for help in Israel. Jerusalem Post]

4. President of the International Neuropsychiatry Association 2016–2018[https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/pn.41.18.0020b Belmaker Elected. Psych News]

5. Deputy Director of the Mental Health Center in Beersheba 1994–2012[https://in.bgu.ac.il/fohs/DocLib1/FohsNews_autumn2011.pdf Health Science News. BGU]

Published works

(Partial List)

=Books=

  • Robert Haim Belmaker , Pesach Lichtenberg, Psychopharmacology Reconsidered - A Concise Guide Exploring the Limits of Diagnosis and Treatment, Springer, 2023

=Articles=

=Collaborative works=

  • Ebstein, Belmaker, Grunhaus, Rimon, Lithium inhibition of adrenaline-stimulated adenylate cyclase in humans, Nature, 259, 1976, pp. 411–413. {{PMID|175287}}.
  • Baron, Risch, Hamburger, mandel, Kushner, Newman, {{proper name|Drumer}} & Belmaker, Genetic linkage between X-chromosome markers and bipolar affective illness, Nature, 326 (6110), 1987, pp. 289–292. {{PMID|3493438}}.
  • Kofman & Belmaker, Ziskind-Somerfeld Research Award 1993. Biochemical, behavioral, and clinical studies of the role of inositol in lithium treatment and depression, Biological Psychiatry, 12 (34), 1993, pp. 839–852. {{PMID|8110911}}.
  • Fleischmann, Prolog, Abarbanel, Belmaker, The effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation of rat brain on behavioural models of depression, Brain Research. 699 (1), 1995, pp. 130–132.
  • Ebstein, Novick, Umansky, Priel, Osher, Blaiane, Bennett, Nemanov, Katz & Belmaker, Dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymorphism associated with the human personality trait of novelty seeking. Nature Genetics, 12 (1), 1996, pp. 78–80. {{PMID|8528256}}
  • George & Belmaker (eds.), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in Neuropsychiatry. Washington DC: APA Press, 2000.
  • Benjamin, Ebstein & Belmaker (eds.), Molecular Genetics and Human Personality, Washington DC: APA Press, 2002.

Awards

He has received the Anna Monika Prize for Research in Depression (1983),[http://anna-monika-stiftung.de/?cat=5&paged=5 AMS. "AMS Award Winners". Anna-Monika-Stiftung] the Ziskind-Somerfeld Prize for Senior Research in Psychiatry (1993) and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Lilly Research Award (1996),ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award Winners". ECNP neuroscience applied. and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Lifetime Achievement Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for research in affective disorder (2000),[http://www.bgu.ac.il/assets/Newsletter_Nov2000.pdf News @ BGU, Ben Gurion University of the Negev (prestigious prize to BGU depression researcher)] and the research prize of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (2004). In 2018 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award of the Israel Psychiatric Association.

Family

Prof. Belmaker is married (since 1967) to Ilana Belmaker, the former Director of Public Health in the Negev, a pediatrician and a preventive medicine specialist. They have six children and 13 grandchildren.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://www.haimbelmaker.co.il/english/ Prof. Robert Haim Belmaker Website]
  • [http://www.ise.bgu.ac.il/engineering/PersonalWebSite1main.aspx?id=ejejjurr Prof. Robert Haim Belmaker Page] in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Website
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQbVyW39bAo Prof. R.H Belmaker – "Why do children turn out the way they do? A neuropsychiatric viewpoint" 14th MV Arunachalam Endowment Oration, INA India Symposium], 2016
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXLGPSCL14U Prof. R.H Belmaker – What’s new in research in lithium? 29th ECNP Congress], 2016

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belmaker, Haim}}

Category:Academic staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Category:Israeli psychiatrists

Category:Living people

Category:Duke University School of Medicine alumni

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:1947 births