ISPNE 2024 Dirk Hellhammer Award Recipients

Dr. Grant Shields is recognized for his work in Psychoneuroendocrinology on the effects of stress on episodic memory and executive functions. Dr. Shields completed his Ph.D. in psychology with a concentration in cognition and cognitive neuroscience--as well as postdoctoral training in clinical neuroscience--at the University of California, Davis. He is currently an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Shields employs a variety of methods to address questions of interest, including acute stress manipulations, ELISAs of hormones and markers of inflammatory activity, fMRI, computational cognitive modeling, design of novel paradigms and tasks, and meta-analysis. The Dirk Hellhammer award recognizes Dr. Shields’ forthcoming publication in Psychoneuroendocrinology, “Acute Immune System Activation Exerts Time-Dependent Effects on Inhibitory Control: Results of Both a Randomized Controlled Experiment of Influenza Vaccination and a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”. This study highlights the importance of understanding cognition in its context through both a controlled experiment and meta-analysis on the influence of immune system activation on inhibitory control. The study points out that, in addition to broader cultural and social contexts and other physiological states, immune processes exert profound influences on our cognitive abilities.

Dr. Joanna Spencer-Segal is recognized for her work in Psychoneuroendocrinology on the neural response to acute stress in preclinical animal work as well as translational ‘bench to bedside’ endocrine care for patients with pituitary disorders through her role as a physician-scientist. ISPNE acknowledges Dr. Spencer-Segal’s contributions to the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology through a forthcoming publication “Ventral subiculum control of avoidance behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity via the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in male and female mice.” The study used chemogenetics to uncover a novel role for the ventral subiculum to activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis via the anterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The study manipulated these circuits to dissociate the neuroendocrine and behavioral stress responses, highlighting separable pathways within the same limbic circuits. Dr. Joanna Spencer-Segal is Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes, and Research Assistant Professor in the Michigan Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan. She received her MD from Weill Cornell Medical College, and her PhD from the Rockefeller University in New York City with Dr. Bruce McEwen. In 2013, Dr. Spencer-Segal moved to Ann Arbor, MI to pursue postgraduate clinical training in internal medicine and endocrinology and postdoctoral research with Dr. Huda Akil. She was appointed Assistant Professor on the tenure track in 2018, where she runs a translational research program focused on the neural response to acute stress, including limbic circuits that control hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity and central glucocorticoid actions that shape cognitive and emotional responses.

Dirk Hellhammer Award

The International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE) awarded the prestigious Curt Richter Award since 2000 to a distinguished line of young investigators in the field of psychoneuroendocrinology.

The Curt Richter Award was renamed in 2021 to honour our friend and colleague Dirk Hellhammer (1947-2018). Dirk was a pioneer of psychoneuroendocrinology, contributing some of most important and enduring progress in our field, from the Trier Social Stress Test to the characterization of the cortisol awakening response. Dirk headed ISPNE as its president from 2002 to 2005, and received the ISPNE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

The 2024 Dirk Hellhammer Award will be given by the Society during its Annual Meeting that will take place virtually on September 12^th and 13^th, 2024. The award consists of an honorarium, an award certificate, a plaque, a travel grant of up to US $1,000 to attend an annual meeting (this can be used to attend the 2025 in-person meeting in New Orleans), and exemption from membership dues to the Society for three years.  The awardee will present their award talk at the 2024 virtual meeting, and receive their award plaque in person at the 2025 in-person meeting.

The deadline for the 2024 award has passed.  For the 2025 award, applicants must be 45 years of age or younger by June 30, 2025. The manuscript must be a report of original, never-published research in basic or clinical psychoneuroendocrinology. It may also be an integrative comprehensive new discussion of the author’s previously published findings. The manuscript should be prepared using the ISPNE Journal (Psychoneuroendocrinology) guidelines for preparation of manuscripts for publication. Following peer review, the manuscript will be automatically submitted for publication in the Journal and the award recipient will present the research at a plenary session during the Annual Meeting.
 
The Dirk Hellhammer Award is sponsored by Elsevier, which underwrites the honorarium and travel expenses for the awardee, as well as providing a year’s complimentary access to ScienceDirect and Scopus. Through these online services, the awardee is able to access all Elsevier journals. ISPNE wishes to thank Elsevier for its continuing support of our Dirk Hellhammer awards program.
 
Applicants should submit a copy of: (a) the manuscript; (b) curriculum vitae with list of publications; (c) and statement from the applicant (no more than one page, single-spaced) describing the applicant’s main achievements and future directions.

The deadline for submissions is June 15th, 2025

Applications should be sent via email with “Dirk Hellhammer Award” as the subject line to ISPNE President Emma Adam at the following e-mail address: [email protected]