The Michele Tansella Award is created by Christa Zimmermann Tansella and Carole Tansella in memory of Michele Tansella (1942-2015), who was a pioneer and a distinguished scientist in the fields of epidemiological psychiatry and mental health service evaluation.
About the award
The award of €2000 will be provided to a post-doctoral or early career researcher who is a first author of an outstanding publication in the field of epidemiological psychiatry, community psychiatry, or mental health service evaluation. The awardee will be announced biennially during the World Psychiatric Association Section meetings on Epidemiology and Public Health.
Read more about the award here.
About Michele Tansella
After graduating from the Medical School of the University of Bari in 1966, Tansella worked in London and Milan, before returning to the University of Verona in the early 1970s. During his time in Verona, he set up a Community Mental Health Service, as well as established the first Italian psychiatric case register. The Verona clinic grew its international reputation and was eventually appointed as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation. In his 40 years of academic career, he has authored over 558 scientific papers, authored or edited 35 volumes, and founded the journal Epidemiologia e Psichiatgric Sociale (EPS; later Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences in 2011) in 1992. He was also deeply involved internationally (including the World Health Organization, and Section Committee of the WPA-EPH) and drove radical changes in reforming mental health care in Italy. After his retirement in 2015, Tansella remained active in the EPS and various research projects. Tansella passed away on the 1st of March 2015. However, his lessons, his teaching and the results of his work will inspire future generations of mental health workers and psychiatrists both in Italy and elsewhere.
Read more about Michele Tansella here.
Key publications by Michele Tansella
- Tansella M, Thornicroft G, Barbui C, Cipriani A. & Saraceno B. (2006) Seven criteria to improve effectiveness trials in psychiatry. Psychological Medicine, 36, 711-720. [Link]
- Gray R, Leese M, Bindman J, Becker T, Burti L, David A, Kikkert M, Puschner B, Schene A, Thornicroft G & Tansella M. (2006) Adherence therapy for people with schizophrenia. European multi-centre randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 189, 508-514. [Link]
- Lewison G, Thornicroft G, Szmukler G & Tansella M. (2007) Fair assessment of the merits of psychiatric research. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190, 314-318. [Link]
- Andreone N, Tansella M, Cerini R, Versace A, Rambaldelli G, Marrella G, Perlini C, Dusi M, Pelizza L, Barbui C, Nosè M, Gasparini A & Brambilla P. (2007) Cortical white matter microstructure in schizophrenia. Diffusion imaging study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 191, 113-119. [Link]
- Tavano A, Sponda S, Fabbro F, Perlini C, Rambaldelli G, Ferro A, Cerruti S, Tansella M, Brambilla P. (2008) Specific linguistic and pragmatic deficits in Italian patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research. 102, 53-62. [Link]