21st Award Ceremony and Symposium on November 21st, 2007

Professor Alexander Glassman from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, was presented with the 21st Anna-Monika Prize by Monika Rief-Rehme, commemorating the symposium which was part of this year's DGPNN Congress in Berlin. Professor Glassman was honored for his groundbreaking work in the area of treating depression in patients with heart deficiencies and / or recovering from heart attacks. The lecture given by Professor Glassman was complimented by speeches of Professor Adriaan Honig from the Freie Universität Amsterdam on the subject of the epidemiological relationships between heart and depression sicknesses and Professor Isabella Heuser from the Charité Berlin on the topic of depression as an independent risk factor for cardio vascular diseases. The award of the Anna-Monika Prize to Professor Glassman has increased the attention given to the topic of the co-morbidity of depression and heart disease.

Since its founding the ANNA-MONIKA-Foundation (http://www.anna-monika-stiftung.com), with its unique objective has achieved world wide recognition among experts. According to its statutes the Foundation supports international pioneering work in the area of depression research. It works intensively to motivate young German and European researchers as part of the bi-annual prize competition. As a result significant developments in the diagnosis and treatment of depression illnesses could be achieved, since the Foundation was set up in 1965. The list of laureates from Europe and the USA reads like a "who is who list" among researchers and has allowed the Anna-Monika- Prize to be highly recognized internationally. Well respected scientists around the world have contributed greatly to the success of the Foundation by volunteering as members of the Jury.