Sheldon Benjamin, MD, FANPA received the 2018 Gary J. Tucker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Neuropsychiatry at the 29^th annual meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association (ANPA) in Boston on March 23, 2018. 

The award, established in memory of Dr. Gary J. Tucker, former Chair of the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry, past president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, former chair of the Dartmouth Department of Psychiatry, and an early ANPA leader, is the highest honor awarded by ANPA. The Tucker Award honors individuals who have demonstrated sustained commitment and service to ANPA, and whose career exemplifies the professional and personal values of deep humanitarianism, superlative scholarship, advancement of our understanding of brain-behavior relationships as they affect mental illness, nationally recognized academic leadership in Neuropsychiatry, and transformative mentoring of students, trainees and colleagues.

Dr. Benjamin is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where he serves as the Interim Chair of Psychiatry and also Director of Psychiatric Education and Training. He graduated with a BS in Molecular Biology from the University of Cincinnati where he also received his MD. He completed his internship and residencies in neurology and psychiatry at Tufts New England Medical Center and was a fellow in Behavioral Neurology at the Boston VA Medical Center Aphasia/Neurobehavior Unit. Beginning in 1986 Dr. Benjamin became the Director of Neuropsychiatry at Westborough State Hospital and this began a long and fruitful relationship with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

Dr. Benjamin has made major contributions to academic neuropsychiatry, authored more than 100 publications and more than 30 chapters on all aspects of neuropsychiatry. He has been recognized nationally by the American Psychiatric Association as a Distinguished Life Fellow and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neuropsychiatric Association. He was ANPA President from 2013-2015.

Dr. Benjamin is a masterful clinician who is highly sought after for consultation. Perhaps his greatest achievement is his generativity and his mentorship for psychiatry residents and neuropsychiatry fellows. He trained numerous Fellows in his program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where he has also mentored combined neurology/psychiatry residents. Many have gone on to establish themselves as future leaders in the field.

ANPA is a major professional and scientific organization for neuropsychiatrists, behavioral neurologists, and neuropsychologists, dedicated to improving the lives of people with disorders at the interface of psychiatry and neurology.  The Gary J. Tucker Lifetime Achievement Award in Neuropsychiatry recognizes individuals who, as did Dr. Tucker, demonstrate lifelong achievement in neuropsychiatry and years of service to the American Neuropsychiatric Association.