Evins Named Cox Family Associate Professor of Psychiatry

In a ceremony at Harvard Medical School’s Gordon Hall of Medicine on July 30, 2014, HMS Dean for Academic and Clinical Affairs Nancy Tarbell celebrated the establishment of the William Cox Family Professorship in Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine and the installation of A. Eden Evins as its first incumbent.

Evins is director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research interests include pharmacotherapy for nicotine dependence, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. She also studies the effects of various medications on reward responsiveness and other potential biomarkers of vulnerability to addiction and of treatment response. She has received half a dozen young investigator and career development awards for her work.

Evins has been part of the Harvard community since the early stages of her career, including her residency in adult psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, fellowships in molecular neurogenetics at McLean Hospital and Mass. General, and a master’s of public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

“[Eden is] an outstanding member of our faculty, a skilled clinician, an exceptional researcher, and a truly deserving inaugural incumbent for this great honor,” said Tarbell.

Heidi Cox, vice-chair of the Mass. General Leadership Council for Psychiatry, spoke on behalf of her family, who established the professorship in honor of her father, the late William Cox. Heidi Cox’s mother, Martha, is also a member of the leadership council.

Peter Slavin, president of Mass. General and professor of health care policy at HMS, and Jerrold Rosenbaum, chief of psychiatry at Mass. General and the Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at HMS, also spoke at the event.