November 8, 2001
Contacts: Shiyoko Cothren (313) 577-7917, scothren@med.wayne.edu
Andrea Gresko (313) 577-1872, agresko@med.wayne.edu

Wayne State University students earn annual award

DETROIT – October 30, 2001 – The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences of Wayne State University is proud to announce the winners of the 2001 Dean R. Asselin, M.D. Prize in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences.

This years winners are Tiffany Farchione, a fourth year Medical Student and Lance Swick, a second year graduate student in the Cellular and Clinical Neurosciences doctoral training program.

Farchione took a year off from her medical studies to enroll in the Master of Science in Psychiatry program, which she recently completed.

She was awarded the Dean R. Asselin prize for her Masters thesis entitled, “Proton Spectroscopic Imaging of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Pediatric Major Depressive Disorders.”

This research has been presented at several national meetings and Farchione received the New Investigators Award for her presentation at the 2001 New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit annual meeting sponsored by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Swick was awarded the Dean R. Asselin Prize for his research paper entitled “The Interaction of GTP Cyclohydrolase I and GTP Cyclohydrolase Feedback Regulatory Protein Can Be Detected Using the Yeast Two-Hybrid System.”

This research was presented at the Symposium on the Chemistry and Biology of Pteridines and Folates sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. 

After reviewing these two outstanding research papers the Asselin Prize selection committee decided to have two awardees this year.

The Dean R. Asselin, M.D. Endowed Prize in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences was established by Dr. Asselin to stimulate residents in Psychiatry, as well as medical and graduate students who are conducting studies in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, to present their work at scientific meetings and to publish them in scholarly journals.

The winners this year will each receive a $2500 cash award.