Read Montague, a professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, has been selected to participate in an Institute of Medicine workshop focused on accelerating the development of therapies for a range of disorders that affect the nervous system, including neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Brain disorders have a tremendous impact on both individual lives and national economies. When taken together as a whole, disorders that affect the brain—such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorders, depression, addiction, Parkinson’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder—have a greater impact on people throughout the world than any other type of disorder. The Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders has responded to this continuing crisis by convening a select group of experts to discuss opportunities for speeding the process from discovery to approval of new therapeutics. The workshop will be held April 8 and 9 at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC.

The workshop chairs are Fred Gage, Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, and John Dunlop, vice president for neuroscience and innovative medicine as AstraZenaca.

In addition to Montague, who also directs the Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, workshop presenters include Christopher Austin, director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health; Mark Bear, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Daniel Geschwind, director of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the UCLA School of Medicine; Magali Haas, chief science and technology officer, One Mind for Research; Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging; Steven Hyman, director of the Stanley Center at the Broad Institute, Harvard University; Adrian Ivinson, director of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center; Husseini Manji, global therapeutic area head for neuroscience research and development at the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Group; Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; William Potter, senior advisor, Office of the Director, National Institute of Mental Health; Daniel Weinberger, director and chief executive officer at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development; and Irving Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.