2025 Rising Star Award

Dr. Nicole Karcher is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, where she specializes in the study of psychosis spectrum symptoms across the lifespan. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia under the mentorship of Dr. John Kerns, followed by postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis under the mentorship of Dr. Deanna Barch. Dr. Karcher’s body of research focuses on leveraging large-scale datasets to refine etiological models of psychotic spectrum symptom trajectories over time. This work integrates genetic, neural, cognitive, and environmental factors to identify actionable risk and resilience factors. Dr. Karcher's work aims to develop early identification and prevention efforts for children and adolescents at risk for worsening psychotic-like experiences, including efforts to reduce mental health disparities. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the One Mind Foundation. 

It is an incredible honor to receive the SIRS Rising Star Award for 2024, following in the footsteps of amazing researchers that have previous received this prize. I am very grateful to SIRS for this acknowledgment of my research advancing our understanding about early risk factors for psychosis spectrum symptoms. I am incredibly grateful to the support of my mentors, including Dr. Deanna Barch. I would also like to thank the team of collaborators that have made this work possible, including but definitely not limited to people like Dr. Jason Schiffman, Dr. Tara Niendam, and Dr. Hans Oh. As we navigate an uncertain and challenging time, I am deeply grateful to SIRS and the dedicated researchers working to improve the lives of people experiencing serious mental health conditions, including those living with psychosis spectrum symptoms.

Prof. Gomes is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has a strong track record of research excellence in neuropsychopharmacology, focusing on animal models of disease, particularly schizophrenia spectrum disorders, with the goal of validating cross-species biomarkers for testing novel therapeutic interventions. Felipe currently leads a Young Investigator grant from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), investigating the mechanisms by which stress during adolescence in rodents leads to schizophrenia-related changes. His research employs circuit-based approaches, integrating behavioral, molecular, and in vivo electrophysiology methods. 

I am deeply humbled and honored to be named the 2025 SIRS Rising Star Award winner. This recognition fuels my commitment to understanding schizophrenia and to finding better ways to its prevention and treatment.

As an Associate Professor at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil, I have the privilege of calling this institution my scientific home. Here, I hope to mentor and inspire the next generation of Brazilian scientists dedicated to unraveling the complexities of schizophrenia. My research focuses on how specific interneurons in the brain are affected by schizophrenia and how stressful experiences during adolescence can trigger changes that mirror the disorder. Using animal models and a combination of behavioral, molecular, and electrophysiological approaches, my goal is to uncover developmental pathways that lead to illness vulnerability and to identify neural network targets for novel treatments that promote resilience and prevent psychosis in at-risk individuals.

This journey would not have been possible without the unwavering guidance of my two extraordinary mentors, Dr. Francisco Guimarães and Dr. Anthony Grace, as their support and wisdom have been instrumental in shaping my path. I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues and collaborators in the field, as well as to all the past and present members of my lab, whose dedication and hard work have contributed to this research. I extend my sincere appreciation to the Brazilian funding agencies—FAPESP, CAPES, and CNPq— for their crucial support in advancing our work.

Finally, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family, especially my wonderful wife, Danielle, and our daughter, Maria Clara, who bring endless joy and adventure to my life. Their love and support make every challenge worthwhile.

This award is not just a recognition of past efforts—it is a motivation to push forward, to keep questioning, and to strive for discoveries that can change lives.

Dr Felipe Gomes’ impressive breadth of work lies at the interface of neural circuitry, stress, development and therapeutics in schizophrenia. Much of his focus has been on the impact of stress during critical periods of neurodevelopment, such as adolescence, by investigating schizophrenia-relevant circuit dysfunction and its underlying biology. His work incorporates multiple convergent levels of analysis, reflecting his broad training in critical disciplines in our field: electrophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, molecular neuroscience and behaviour. His current projects focus on the impact of prepubertal stress on neural excitatory-inhibitory balance as a key neurobiological substrate underlying risk for psychopathology, and which is at the forefront of current conceptualisations of psychosis pathogenesis. Thus, Felipe’s work is likely to contribute to several active lines of inquiry in our field, and to advance our understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of affective, psychotic, and anxiety disorders. Felipe has an outstanding track-record of high-profile publications despite his early-career stage. These achievements have been recognised through several competitive early-career grants and awards, including SIRS, EBPS, IBRO, ICOSR, SOBP, CINP, among others. What makes Felipe an exceptional scientist is also how he efficiently combines his excellence in research with a strong dedication to mentoring and education. This goes well beyond supporting the post-doctoral researchers and graduate students in his lab, as he has for example served on the SIRS Education Committee through 2021-2024. Through my interactions with Felipe, I have been impressed by his vision for our field, and how he appraises the challenges and opportunities within it. He is a deep thinker, perceptive and creative, with a solid knowledge base that matches his broad scientific training, and the humility that comes with knowing that we are standing in the shoulders of giants, and that there is so much more yet to learn and discover. Moreover, if I may say things simply, he is a really nice person. We need more people like him in science, and for them to have visibility. He will be an outstanding ambassador for our Society, contributing not only his cultural diversity, but also his ability to think and work across disciplines. I am delighted that Felipe has received the prestigious SIRS Rising Star Award.