Letter From the SOBP President
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I am so honored and delighted to introduce myself as the incoming President of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. I am fortunate to follow the incredible leadership of Dr. Sophia Frangou, who presided over an extremely productive year and successful 80th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.
The SOBP has played such an important role in my development as a scientist. One of the things I love most about this Society is the warm, supportive and inclusive environment for early career investigators, as well as opportunities for researchers across all career stages to get involved. So we have some exciting updates and new initiatives to share with you.
First off- I am thrilled to introduce the theme of our 2026 Annual Meeting, “Building Better Brains: From Synapses to Societies”, to be held
April 30-May 2 2026 in New York City. We are poised at an incredibly exciting time to ‘close the gap’ between neuroscience discovery and new treatment paradigms. Start dreaming up your best ideas for submissions!
Also- we have some exciting new initiatives underway.
1) Increasing outreach and scientific communication to the broader community is an increasingly urgent priority, and a key tenet of our updated Strategic Plan. So we have a newly minted Communications Committee (formerly the Communications Task Force).
2) We have just launched a new Artificial Intelligence Task Force. As AI is rapidly changing the landscape of neuroscience research as well as clinical care, it is important that our Society stays on the cutting edge of these developments. Stay tuned for opportunities to participate!
Important Deadlines for the Annual Meeting, all submissions open August 12, 2025.
Symposia Proposals: We invite you to submit your innovative ideas for symposia. The deadline for submitting proposals is September 26, 2025.
Poster and Oral Submissions: The deadline for submitting poster and oral
presentation abstracts is November 21, 2025.
Travel Awards: Applications for travel awards, which support attendance at the annual meeting, must be submitted by October 10, 2025. These awards offer a great opportunity for early-career investigators to participate in the meeting and engage with the global community.
Special Project Funding: SOBP is looking for ideas and initiatives to serve its members and meeting attendees. The Society has set aside money each year to fund these initiatives (initiatives approved for 2025 can be found here). The purpose of this form is to collect ideas from SOBP members for initiatives or programs that would fill a need for the field or the Society and be funded by the Society. Please note that these funds are not meant to support research initiatives, but rather enhance the SOBP, further its mission, and involve members. A Special Projects Funding proposal should describe how it relates to SOBP’s strategic plan and how it will further the mission of SOBP. Submissions are due October 24, 2025; preliminary reviews of the submissions will take place in early fall; follow up information may be requested of the submitters. Final selections will be made by Council in December 2025. Programs that are selected will be contacted by the Office and Council to begin planning.
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Lastly, our Biological Psychiatry family of journals is publishing some of the most cutting-edge science in the field- please check out the three Society Journals: Biological Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging and Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science.
Thank you for your being part of the SOBP. I am excited to hear your ideas and comments, which you can share with me by emailing president@sobp.org. I am really looking forward to working with you all this year!
All my best,
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