"On February 6, 2020, Stony Brook University formally invested Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD, (FM, 1984) as the Lourie Endowed Chair in Psychiatry. Robert Lourie and Alumna Ivana Stolnik ’16 funded the Lourie Endowed Chair in Psychiatry. The inaugural holder of the chair, Dr. Abi-Dargham, is an internationally recognized leader in molecular imaging of the brain functioning related to schizophrenia and concurrent addiction.

“I believe that understanding the brain is as significant a scientific challenge for this century as understanding the atom was for the last,” said Robert Lourie. “Dr. Abi-Dargham’s research on the fundamental pursuit of the brain’s molecular impact also paves the way for better clinical treatments of patients, representing the best synergy between basic and applied science and we’re all very glad she’s here at Stony Brook to do this work.”  

“There is no doubt that as the Lourie Endowed Chair in Psychiatry Dr. Abi-Dargham’s contributions to science will continue to grow, further advancing Stony Brook’s storied reputation for excellence in imaging,” said Senior Vice President of Health Sciences and Dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine, Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, MACP. “

Dr. Abi-Dargham received her MD degree from the Faculty of Medicine of Saint-Joseph University – Beirut, in 1984. She moved to the US in 1985, completed her residency at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, and followed that with a research fellowship at the National Institute for Mental Health.

Dr Abi-Dargham is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2016, and received the prestigious Lieber Prize for outstanding research in schizophrenia in 2018.