Jamison, Seydoux given grants

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty members Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry, and Dr. Geraldine Seydoux, associate professor of molecular biology and genetics were recently awarded MacArthur Fellowships by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each award, know as "genius" awards grants $500,000 over five years.

The awards are intended to recognize the creative efforts of those committed to advancing knowledge in order to improve lives. Jamison was recognized for her efforts to enhance mental health treatment, to improve patient support and advocacy, and to increase public awareness of psychiatric disorders. Seydoux was awarded for her research, focused on molecular machinery of reproduction and biological development, or how a single cell becomes a fully formed adult animal.

Both Jamison and Seydoux were surprised and overwhelmed by the award.

"It came as a complete surprise. It was completely out of the blue," said Jamison. "It's a fantastic, great, wonderful feeling."

The award has yet to sink in for Seydoux.

"It was such a surprise and I still haven't completely recovered," said Seydoux. "The part about it is that people think my research is important enough to endorse it in this way."

Unlike the usual tug and pull associated with trying to get research money, the MacArthur Fellowship grant comes with no strings attached - Jamison and Seydoux may use the money for any project they wish.

"It's incredible with the freedom it gives you," said Jamison.

Seydoux sees so much freedom with the grant that she cannot decide what she will do with it yet.

"I can do anything I want. I don't have to see if others approve," said Seydoux. "The first week after [I got the grant] I was very anxious about deciding what to use it for. But then I realized I didn't have to spend it right away in a certain time frame so I'm going to wait for something meaningful to come along to spend it on. I need time to think of something good."

Seydoux also has specific experiments ongoing in her lab that will keep her busy for the next five years. She has been extremely busy of late, amazed that she can even keep her lab going and her students happy.

"At first I cringed at the responsibility [involved with the grant]. But I've gotten so many supportive calls and e-mails wishing me well from within and outside the scientific community," said Seydoux. "I haven't had much time to think about long term goals, but this fellowship has given me an opportunity to do so."

Jamison also is not sure how she will use the grant. For now she is content to continue teaching psychology at Hopkins School of Medicine, continue programs with college students as well as continue depression awareness programs she is involved with. Jamison is also currenty working on a book about exuberance and its role in pyschiatric and literary work. She also continues to seriously study depression to determine its causes. She is the author of the 1995 best-seller An Unquiet Mind and has written several articles, as well as a medical text on manic-depressive illness.

"I don't know yet [how I'll use the grant]," said Jamison. "I love the psychology department at Hopkins and will continue to teach and work on my book."

A total of 611 MacArthur Fellows have been named since the program began in 1981. The other three faculty members to receive the fellowship were: Fouad Ajami, professor and director of Middle East Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, in 1982; Philip D. Curtin, professor emeritus of history at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in 1983; and Allen Grossman, professor of English at The Johns Hopkins University, in 1989. Out of the 23 fellows that received grants this year, Hopkins is the only institution to have two colleagues receive the fellowship.