Professor Søren Dinesen Østergaard is the first person outside the US to receive the prestigious research prize, which is named after the psychiatrist Lewis Alan Opler and is awarded by The International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology.

Lewis Alan Opler was one of the originators of the so called Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), which is the most widely-used rating scale for measuring the severity of schizophrenia in relation to research.

Since 2016, Søren Dinesen Østergaard’s research group has been working to make PANSS more fit for clinical practice. This has been done in part by developing a shorter version called PANSS-6, which focuses on the core symptoms of schizophrenia, and a brief interview, the Simplified Negative and Positive Symptoms Interview (SNAPSI), designed to give clinicians the information they need to conduct PANSS-6 rating.

SNAPSI is now available in 19 languages, and PANSS-6 is mentioned as an alternative to the full PANSS in the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association’s treatment guideline for schizophrenia.

Søren Dinesen Østergaard is praised for his innovative and forward-looking research, and he will receive the award in connection with the 19^th Annual Meeting of The International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology in Washington DC, where his research will be presented to an international audience.

The psychiatric services of the Central Denmark Region are currently working to implement regular symptom measurements via SNAPSI and PANSS-6, in order to individualise and improve the treatment of schizophrenia.

Contact

Professor Søren Dinesen Østergaard
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine
Aarhus University Hospital, Psychiatry, Department for Depression and Anxiety Disorders
E-mail: sdo@clin.au.dk