Stephen and Constance Lieber have given $11 million to Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute over the next five years to establish the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research. In addition to this donation, $1.5 million has been given to establish the Lieber Professorship of Psychiatry.

The center, which has its offices and laboratories on the fifth floor of the institute's new building, will attract world-class scientists engaged in schizophrenia research, as well as authorities from other disciplines whose expertise promises to bring a fresh approach to studying the issues of schizophrenia. The Lieber Professorship of Psychiatry was established to be occupied by a national leader in the field of psychiatry with a record of outstanding achievement in research and treatment of schizophrenia.

Dr. Jack Gorman, vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and a specialist in the neurobiology of schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorders, has been named the senior investigator for the Lieber Center, and he has been appointed the first Lieber Professor of Psychiatry.

"We already have an outstanding schizophrenia research effort at Columbia and now we will be able to make it even better," said Dr. Gorman of the new center. "We will put together a comprehensive research effort in three main areas: the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of schizophrenia; the relationship of genes and the environment in causing schizophrenia; and a search for better therapeutics.

"I'm thrilled and honored to be named Lieber Professor. The Lieber family is a great name in both American psychiatry and philanthropy. Their devotion is a powerful motivation to me and many other scientists to do everything we possibly can to find the causes and better treatments for schizophrenia."

Both Stephen and Constance Lieber are active supporters of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, as well as being among its more generous benefactors. Mr. Lieber is chairman of the Psychiatry Advisory Board for the Department of Psychiatry. Mrs. Lieber is a member of the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council. The couple is actively involved with the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

Office of External Relations, Health Sciences Division