Huda Akil, PhD, an internationally known neuroscientist whose research has helped reveal the fundamental nature of anxiety, depression, pain and addiction, is the recipient of the 2025 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science.
Akil, who was awarded the National Medal of Science by then-President Joe Biden in 2023, is the Gardner C. Quarton Distinguished University Professor of Neurosciences in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School and senior research professor at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, both in Ann Arbor.
“Dr. Akil’s groundbreaking research has deepened our understanding of the mechanisms of human emotion and contributed to our understanding of the biologic roots of human behavior,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“She has also devoted her career to mentoring generations of neuroscientists. At a time when our nation is facing a behavioral health crisis, her contributions are particularly impactful,” Balser said. “I want to congratulate Dr. Akil as the 20th recipient of the Vanderbilt Prize.”
Established by VUMC in 2006, the Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science recognizes scientists of national reputation who have a stellar record of research accomplishments and are known for mentoring others in science. Two previous honorees subsequently received Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine and chemistry.
“Dr. Huda Akil’s research has profoundly advanced our understanding of the brain biology underlying emotions, pain, depression, anxiety and addiction, revealing how genetic and molecular mechanisms influence mental health,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Chief Scientific and Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President for Research for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“The continued support of this highly recognized national prize shows public evidence of the value Vanderbilt places on discovery research, innovation, mentoring and scientific breakthroughs,” said Pietenpol, who holds the Brock Family Directorship in Career Development.
As a recipient of the Vanderbilt Prize, Akil will receive an honorarium, present a special seminar, to be announced later, and mentor a Vanderbilt Prize Scholar, a graduate student in biomedical sciences in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Vanderbilt Prize and to be in the company of the remarkable scientists who have received it before me,” Akil said. “I am especially happy that this award recognizes not only scientific contributions but mentoring.
“I am immensely grateful for having had the chance to work with remarkable, talented, dedicated young scientists who have taught me more than I have taught them,” she said. “The Vanderbilt Prize honors all of us.”
A native of Syria, Akil earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology and psycholinguistics from the American University of Beirut and her PhD in biological psychology at UCLA under the mentorship of the late John Liebeskind, PhD, a pioneer in pain research.
During her dissertation work, she and her colleagues produced the first physiological evidence for the role that endorphins, opioid-like peptides in the brain, play in decreasing the pain response following electrical brain stimulation.
In 1977, while doing postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Jack Barchas, MD, at Stanford University, she and her colleagues demonstrated the role that endorphins play in decreasing the pain response following acute stress and showed their release in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation for pain relief.
Akil continued her research on opioid peptides and their receptors at the University of Michigan Mental Health Research Institute and joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1987.
With her scientific partner and husband, Stanley Watson, MD, PhD, the Ralph Waldo Gerard Professor of Neurosciences in the Department of Psychiatry, Akil built a wide-ranging research program focused on the biology of emotions.
For more than 25 years, they co-directed what is now known as the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and oversaw the research and training of hundreds of young neuroscientists.
According to the University of Michigan, Akil has authored and co-authored more than 500 papers published in scientific journals, and she is recognized as one of the most highly cited researchers by the ISI Citation Index.
A current research goal is to understand, through use of animal models, the genetic and developmental basis of differences in temperament (mood and behavioral tendencies), and how these inborn differences may affect an individual’s vulnerability to anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
In addition to continued investigations of the biology of emotion, her research group is participating in a collaborative effort to uncover — with the help of genomic tools and postmortem studies of the brain — neural phenotypes, or observable characteristics that are associated with major depression and bipolar illness in humans.
“Mood and addictive disorders are a huge challenge in today’s society, but we are making great progress in understanding their causes and devising new strategies for treating them,” she told the University of Michigan Record in 2023.
Akil is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Her many awards include a Pacesetter Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Neuroscience, the Patricia Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and the Gruber Prize in Neuroscience.
Akil has served on several national committees and is past president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and of the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest neuroscience organization.
For more information about the Vanderbilt Prize and a complete list of previous winners, go to the VUMC Office of Research website at www.vumc.org/oor, and click on the “awards” tab.
