Soonjo Hwang, MD, received honorable mention for the 2020 Klerman Prize for Exceptional Clinical Research from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation for his work exploring oxytocin as a pharmacological intervention for pediatric populations struggling with behavioral and emotional dysregulation, particularly irritability, anger outbursts and difficulty with empathy.
The annual Klerman Prize recognizes exceptional clinical research conducted by the foundation’s Young Investigator Grantees. The Young Investigator Grant program is the hallmark program of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, enabling aspiring young scientists with innovative ideas to garner pilot data and generate “proof of concept” for their work.
Dr. Hwang, an associate professor in the UNMC Department of Psychiatry, received a grant to develop and advance his new treatment option, a nasal spray that delivers the hormone oxytocin in an attempt to strengthen social behaviors and build better interactions among the pediatric patients he’s treating.
The child and adolescent psychiatrist is pursuing a more neuroscientific understanding of those psycho-pathologies, exploring what the neural areas are at play to manifest the psychiatric symptoms,
“Then we would target those areas with a novel treatment,” Dr. Hwang said. “That is my main research activity — basically, pharmacological and/or behavioral interventions to yield better outcome of behavioral and emotional regulation in youths.”
Dr. Hwang said it was “an honor and a privilege” to be recognized by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
“They are encouraging me to pursue this avenue, to become an independent researcher and come up with more meaningful tools and treatments for this really challenging population.”
He also credited his research team and the UNMC Department of Psychiatry for their support.
“It’s an award to me, but of course research today is all teamwork,” he said. “I couldn’t have gotten this recognition without our team and the department as a whole.”
Congratulations! Great to have you at UNMC.
Congratulations!!!
Congrats Soonjo!
Congratulations, Dr. Hwang and glad you're on our team!