IPA Press Releases

MEDIA ADVISORY - Two Toronto psychiatrists earn international recognition on opening day at IPA's 1999 biennial Congress

VANCOUVER, B.C. (Aug. 15, 1999) - British Columbia Lieutenant-Governor Garde B. Gardom will officially open the Ninth Congress of the International Psychogeriatric Association Monday morning at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, bringing together many of the world's leading authorities who deal with challenges related to mental health and aging. The Congress will conclude Friday, August 20.

Highlights Monday are expected to be:

• Two Canadians are among six renowned physicians, scientists and academics to be recognized by IPA for outstanding contributions to psychogeriatrics. The Canadians are Dr. Joel Sadavoy, the Chair of this week’s Ninth International Congress, who is Psychiatrist in Chief at Toronto's Mt. Sinai Hospital, an Associate Professor and Head of General Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the first president of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry in 1993; and, Dr. Kenneth Shulman, a Professor at the University of Toronto and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. The others to be honoured Monday with IPA awards are Dr. Tom Arie of England, Dr. Sanford Finkel of the United States, Dr. Jean Wertheimer of Switzerland and Dr. Kazuo Hasegawa of Japan.
• Distinguished researchers from India and the United States will be honoured with prestigious biennial IPA/Bayer Awards for landmark research in psychogeriatrics. Among the doctors and scientists who will accept awards, is an American registered nurse who effectively used classical music, improving the health of patients suffering from Alzheimer's and similar diseases.
• IPA President Dr. Barry Reisberg of New York, and a renowned Alzheimer's researcher, will outline a new word for the medical lexicon - retrogenesis - in which he suggests that the way we treat Alzheimer's patients might be precisely the opposite of what they need.
• BPSD - initials with great meaning in psychogeriatrics - refer to Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia. A session Monday will explore the biochemical basis of BPSD.
• Studying and reducing the tragic rates of suicide in the elderly is a worldwide initiative of IPA, with fascinating statistical differences between male and female populations among different nationalities and ethnic groups. This is also a major undertaking of the World Health Organization. Dr. Eric Caine, of Rochester, N.Y. and the Chair of this international initiative, will lead this session.