Winner 2006 – Raphael Mechoulam

The ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2005 by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. This prestigious Award will be presented biennially in the recognition of and individual who has made innovative and lasting contributions to the area of neuropsychopharmacology. The Award is unique in that it recognises a lifelong dedication in the field of neuropsychopharmacology.

The first recipient of the ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award is Prof. Raphael Mechoulam, at the Dept. of Medicine and Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Raphael Mechoulam has a long and distinguished career both as a mentor and as a scientist at high administrative positions. He is the formal Academic Head (Rector) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been President of the International Cannabis Research Society and he has received numerous national and international honours, for instance he is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.

The Award jury has recognised Raphael Mechoulam’s pioneering research on the constituents of cannabis and the endogenous cannabinoids, found in the brain and periphery. His laboratory was the first to identify and synthesise delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive substance in cannabis. This work led to the search for ligands acting on cannabinoid receptors in the brain and the discovery of the endocannabinoid system in the brain. Raphael Mechoulam and his colleagues have identified several molecules, which are fatty acids derivatives, such as anandamide, which are structurally different from the THC, but have essentially the same pharmacological activity as THC. Analysis of the novel cannabinoid system have already contributed to exciting new insights into brain and biological functions and a number of drugs are being developed on the basis of these pioneering findings.