Marilyn Benoit
Child Psychiatrist

  • Past President of the American Academy of Child
    and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
  • Currently AACAP Secretary
  • Board Member of The Center for the
    Advancement of Children’s Mental Health
    (CACMH) at Columbia University’s Division of
    Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Benoit states: “Claims that ADHD is not a real disorder
or that it is caused by too much sugar or bad parenting are completely false and are, in fact, harmful to concerned parents trying valiantly to find ways to help their children. […] Scientific studies demonstrate that the real problem is the under-treatment of ADHD among African American children and teens."

Benoit has cautioned that over-diagnosis of ADHD and inappropriate prescribing of Ritalin does not happen among psychiatrists who are well-schooled in the condition's clinical aspects, but instead occurs among pediatricians and family practitioners who are unfamiliar with both.

“Ultimately, the job for psychiatrists is in the trenches, particularly in the schools where children spend so much of their time,” said Marilyn Benoit

Funding for the different groups that Benoit is a part of come from the following sources:

AACAP funding:

  • Eli Lilly and Company – ($250,000+ in 2004)
  • Alliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.
  • McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical
  • Pfizer, Inc.
  • Shire Pharmaceuticals Group, PLC
  • Celltech Pharmaceuticals
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Johnson and Johnson Research and Development, L.L.C.
  • Wyeth
  • Shire Biochem Inc.
  • Aventis Pasteur, Inc
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • GlaxoSmithKline  

CACMH funding:

  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Celltech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceuticals, L.P.
  • Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals
  • Pfizer, Inc.
  • Sanofi-Aventis (World’s 3rd largest pharmaceutical company)
  • Shire US Inc. (Shire Pharmaceuticals Group)
  • NARSAD (funded by the pharmaceutical companies)
  • CHADD (heavily funded by the pharmaceutical companies)
  • National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)

Some of the other Board Members for CACMH are:

 David Shaffer (see “Key Players” page)
Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of NAMI
Steven M. Paul, M.D., Executive VP, Science and Technology, President, Lilly Research; Laboratories Eli Lilly and Company


Catherine "Deeda" Blair

"Blair's biotech career started in 1983 with an
exhibition of 30 years of Givenchy couture staged in
Washington's gilded Departmental Auditorium. For Blair,
it was also an opportunity to impress a top
pharmaceutical executive, whom she met when they
served together on a Federal Drug Administration
committee."

"Blair has gone on to earn fees or stock from at least a
half-dozen drug and biotech companies including
Novartis, where she still consults." Fairchild Publications, Inc., December 10, 2004

Novartis is the manufacturer of Ludiomil, Tofranil, Pamelor, Anafranil (depression) Ritalin (Attention Deficit Disorder), Tegretol (bipolar disorder), Mellaril, Clorazil, Serentil (schizophrenia).

Blair's son William was labeled with a "bipolar disorder" and had received "treatment". William committed suicide by jumping out of a hotel window in May of 2004. According to the New York Post, friends of William said that just three weeks before William lept from the hotel room in Chicago, he had attempted to end his life with an overdose of sedatives on the West Coast. "His parents didn't even go out to see him when he was hospitalized," said a close friend. The friend described Williams's relationship with his highbrow mom as extremely cold.


Robert Boorstin
On NARSAD’s (National Alliance for Research on
Schizophrenia and Depression) National Leadership
Council

Recent major corporate funders of NARSAD, according to
their own web site, include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI


Joseph T. English
Psychiatrist

  • Chairman, Department of Psychiatry &
    Behavioral Sciences St. Vincent Catholic Medical
    Centers
  • Past president of the American Psychiatric
    Association (APA)
  • Member of the Founders Committee for the
    National Foundation for Mental Health (NFMH)

The National Foundation for Mental Health (NFMH)
has partnered with the following Corporations:

  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Eli Lilly and Company


Michael Hogan
Director, Ohio Department of Mental Health;
Commissioner, President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health (NFC)

Hogan is a member-at-large of the National
Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
(NASMHPD). He is the past president of both
NASMHPD and the NASMHPD Research Institute (NRI),
and is currently on the NRI Board of Directors. Both
entities are heavily supported by Janssen
Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly through "educational
grants".

Hogan is also an Advisory Board member of Janssen Pharmaceutica’s, “Mental Health Issues Today” (MHIT). This journal is published by Parexel Medical Marketing, which receives funds from the drug companies to run "advisory panels" on their behalf. Janssen contracts with Parexel International Corporation to produce MHIT. Janssen funds the project, but Parexel writes the checks.

For more information on Michael Hogan and his pharmaceutical connections, see “Key Players” and our NFC page.


Constance Lieber
President, National Alliance for Research on
Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)

NARSAD is the largest donor-supported organization in
the world devoted exclusively to supporting scientific
research on brain and behavior disorders. Since 1987,
NARSAD has awarded $175.7 million in research grants
to 2,067 scientists at 329 leading universities,
institutions and teaching hospitals in the United States
and in 23 other countries.

Recent major corporate funders of NARSAD, according
to their own web site, include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI


Stephen Lieber
Assistant Treasurer, NARSAD (2003 Tax Forms)

(see Constance Lieber, above)

 


Robert Nau
Vice Chairman, American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention (AFSP); Chairman of the Development
Committee AFSP; Financial Committee Member
AFSP

The AFSP takes major funding from the pharmaceutical
industry.

In 2000 the AFSP released a national survey they had
done on suicide. The funder of the survey? Pfizer Inc.

In their effort to build up a $5 million research fund, the AFSP has also received at least $1,250,000 from Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Luvox (depression) and Lithobid (bipolar disorder).

Directors of the AFSP include:

  • David Shaffer, (see “Key Players” page) past president of AFSP and currently on their Board of Directors, part of the Scientific Advisory Council and Member of the Research Grants Committee, creator of TeenScreen.
  • Cathryn M. Clary of Pfizer Inc., maker of Nardil, Sinequan, Zoloft (depression) and Navane (schizophrenia)
  • Harold Shlevin of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. makers of Luvox (depression) and Lithobid (bipolar disorder).
  • David Norton of Johnson & Johnson, who is also on the AFSP Development Committee.
  • Alan Lipschitz, M.D. from GlaxoSmithKline and Steven Romano, M.D. from Pfizer Inc., sit on AFSP’s Scientific Advisory Council.

Funding for the AFSP comes from:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Bristol Myers Squibb Company
  • Cardinal Health Inc. (distributor of pharmaceuticals)
  • Corbett Accel HealthCare Group (pharmaceutical marketing)
  • Eli Lilly & Co
  • Forest Laboratories Inc.
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Janssen-Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Merck & Co
  • National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
  • Organon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Pfizer, Inc.
  • Serologicals Corporation (provides drug discovery services to pharmaceutical companies)
  • SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals
  • Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
  • Wyeth Pharmaceuticals


Herbert Pardes
Psychiatrist

  • President of the Scientific Council of the
    National Alliance for Research on
    Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)
  • A regular advisor to the National Alliance for
    the Mentally Ill (NAMI)

NARSAD and NAMI both receive heavy funding from
pharmaceutical companies.

Pardes’ beliefs include:

“Changing the labeling of Prozac and other anti-depressant drugs to warn of possible suicide risk is "unwarranted" because there is no scientific evidence of such a risk […] A change in labeling is likely to suggest such a linkage, and that is reckless," said Dr. Herbert Pardes, Vice President for Health Sciences at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and past president of the American Psychiatric Association.

"It would needlessly frighten patients from seeking treatment and would discourage physicians from prescribing these medications. […] It is important to remember that it is the disease of depression which is dangerous, not the drugs used to treat it," he said. The Washington Times; September 20, 1991

Psychiatrists recommend wider use of shock therapy
"ECT is a safe and very effective treatment for certain severe mental illnesses," Pardes said. United Press International; December 21, 1989


Robert Postlethwait

Postlethwait has 30 years experience with Eli Lilly
and Company, where he served on the Operations
Committee. He retired from Lilly in 1999 as the
President of Neuroscience Products Group. Prior
positions include Vice President, CNS Planning; Area
Vice President of Lilly International (Western
Europe); Executive Director of Corporate Engineering;
General Manager and President of Lilly Brazil and
Lilly Argentina; and Director of Marketing for
Agrochemicals, Lilly Italy. Postlethwait served with
Michael Hogan (see above) on the President's New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC) and is
currently a member of the Indiana Commission on
Mental Health. He is also a member of the Board of DarPharma, Inc., a company that develops "novel" psychotropic drugs.

Eli Lilly is the manufacturer of Prozac (depression), Trilafon, Zyprexa (schizophrenia)

The domain name www.mentalhealthscreen.org is owned by Eli Lilly and Company.


Rona Purdy
Past President, National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill (NAMI)

18 drug firms gave NAMI at least $11.72 million
between 1996 and mid-1999. These include:

$2.87 million, Eli Lilly and Company, maker of Prozac
(depression), Trilafon, Zyprexa (schizophrenia)

$2.08 million, Janssen, maker of Risperdal
(schizophrenia)

$1.87 million, Novartis, maker of Ludiomil, Tofranil,
Pamelor, Anafranil (depression); Ritalin (Attention Deficit Disorder); Tegretol (bipolar disorder); Mellaril, Clorazil, Serentil (schizophrenia)

$1.3 million, Pfizer, maker of Nardil, Sinequan, Zoloft (depression); and Navane (schizophrenia)

$1.24 million, Abbott Laboratories maker of Depakote, Depakene (bipolar disorder); Tranxene, (anxiety); Cylert, (attention deficit disorder)

$658,000, Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals maker of Ativan, Inderalm, Serax (anxiety); Asendin (psychotic depression); Effexor, Surmontil (depression)

$613,505, Bristol-Myers Squibb maker of BuSpar (anxiety); Prolixin, Abilify (schizophrenia); Serzone (depression)

Source: Above dollar figures published in article entitled Prozac.org, by Ken Silverstein, November/December 1999 Issue, MotherJones.com


Jeanne Robertson
Vice President, National Alliance for Research on
Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)

Robertson has been a member of NARSAD's board of
directors since 1990, assuming a leadership role as
vice-president in 1996.

NARSAD receives funding from the pharmaceutical
companies. A list of recent donors include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI


Joy Ruane
Co-founder of the Carmel Hill Fund; Carmel Hill
Center for Early Diagnosis and Treatment out of
the Department of Child Psychiatry at Columbia
University

Helped to establish the “William and Joy Ruane
Professorship of Pediatric Psychopharmacology” at
Columbia University.

The Ruane’s also established the “Ruane Prize” through
NARSAD.

From a NARSAD Newsletter: "Bill and Joy Ruane, themselves and through the Carmel Hill Foundation, are among the most remarkably dedicated supporters of psychiatric research. They have played a major role in NARSAD’s success as partners in NARSAD’s vision and achievements. Their particular focus is on improving the opportunity for recovery for children and adolescents. That goal is reflected through NARSAD’s Ruane Prize."

NARSAD receives funding from the pharmaceutical companies. A list of recent donors include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI


William Ruane
1925-2005

  • Founder, Columbia University TeenScreen Program
  • Co-Founder & Chairman, Ruane, Cunniff and Co.,
    Inc
  • Co-Founder & Chairman, Sequoia Fund
  • Co-founder of the Carmel Hill Fund

The New York Times reported on December 17, 1998
that William J. Ruane, an investment advisor, put $8 million into the screening research of Shaffer, the TeenScreen psychiatrist. Ruane has had longstanding relationship with Shaffer. In June of 1995 the Ruanes funded a professorship of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Columbia University which "supported training and research into the effectiveness of psychopharmacological agents in treating childhood psychiatric disorders".

The Psychiatric Times reported in March of 1998 that Ruane and wife Joy, gave 1.5 million to study the effects of psychiatric drugs in children to the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Shaffer's home base.

According to a New York Post article in 1999, the New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted experiments on kids, some as young as 6, with a powerful mood-altering drug and failed to tell the children or their parents about the serious risks. While testing Prozac on 30 severely depressed patients ages 12 to 18, researcher's notes indicated "Some patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts and/or violent behavior". Records showed that at least four experiments used this drug on young children including one funded by Eli Lilly.

From a NARSAD Newsletter: "Bill and Joy Ruane, themselves and through the Carmel Hill Foundation, are among the most remarkably dedicated supporters of psychiatric research. They have played a major role in NARSAD’s success as partners in NARSAD’s vision and achievements. Their particular focus is on improving the opportunity for recovery for children and adolescents. That goal is reflected through NARSAD’s Ruane Prize."

NARSAD receives funding from the pharmaceutical companies. A list of recent donors include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI


David Shaffer
Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist

  • A 1992 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award
    Recipient
  • Past President of the American Foundation for
    Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
  • Executive Board Member of The Center for the
    Advancement of Children’s Mental Health
    (CACMH) at Columbia University’s Division of
    Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

NARSAD's Distinguished Investigator Award Program
hands out a one-year award of $100,000 for someone conducting neurobiological research, Shaffer received that prize in 1992.

Recent major corporate funders of NARSAD, according to their own web site, include:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Abbott Laboratories Fund
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company
  • Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
  • Forest Laboratories, Inc.
  • Forest Pharmaceutical
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Prod, LP
  • Pfizer Incorporated
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Wyeth Laboratories
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
  • NAMI

David Shaffer, (see “Key Players” page) of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute's Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, is the developer of TeenScreen.

Shaffer is listed in a January 2004 report as a consultant to Hoffman La Roche, the maker of Librium (anxiety) and GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Eskalith, Lamictal (bipolar disorder); Stelazine, Compazine, Thorazine (schizophrenia); Paxil, Wellbutrin (depression).

In December of 2003 British drug regulators recommended against the use of antidepressants in the treatment of depressed children under 18 because some of the drugs had been linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. According to a December 11, 2003, New York Times article, Shaffer at the request of Pfizer, the maker of Nardil, Sinequan, Zoloft (depression) and Navane (schizophrenia) attempted to block the British findings, sending a letter to the British drug agency saying that there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents.

Shaffer was the president of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) who sent out a press release on May 8, 2000, saying that they had just released a national survey they had done on suicide. The funder of the survey? Pfizer Inc. Shaffer's AFSP also received $1,250,000 from Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Luvox (depression) and Lithobid (bipolar disorder).

Besides being the past president of AFSP, Shaffer currently sits on their Board of Directors, is part of the Scientific Advisory Council and a Member of AFSP’s Research Grants Committee.

Present directors of the AFSP include Cathryn M. Clary of Pfizer Inc., Harold Shlevin of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and David Norton of Johnson & Johnson, who is also on AFSP’s Development Committee.

Alan Lipschitz, M.D. from GlaxoSmithKline and Steven Romano, M.D. from Pfizer Inc., sit on AFSP’s Scientific Advisory Council.

Funding for the AFSP comes from:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Bristol Myers Squibb Company
  • Cardinal Health Inc. (distributor of pharmaceuticals)
  • Corbett Accel HealthCare Group (pharmaceutical marketing)
  • Eli Lilly & Co
  • Forest Laboratories Inc.
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Janssen-Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Merck & Co
  • National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
  • Organon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Pfizer, Inc.
  • Serologicals Corporation (provides drug discovery services to pharmaceutical companies)
  • SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals
  • Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
  • Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

 CACMH funding:

  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Celltech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceuticals, L.P.
  • Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals
  • Pfizer, Inc.
  • Sanofi-Aventis (World’s 3rd largest pharmaceutical company)
  • Shire US Inc. (Shire Pharmaceuticals Group)
  • NARSAD
  • CHADD
  • National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)


Michael Silverberg, J.D.
Senior Litigation Partner, Phillips Nizer Benjamin
Krim & Ballon

  • President of the National Alliance for the Mentally
    Ill of New York State (NAMI-NYS) from 1999 to
    2004
  • President of the National Alliance for the Mentally
    Ill of New York City, Inc. (NAMI-NYC METRO) from
    1997 through 2003  
  • Member of the Advisory Boards of the Department
    of Psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • Has been a consultant to the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) of the American Psychiatric Association

NAMI NYC Metro has a special commitment to form partnerships with a broad range of organizations including Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly.

18 drug firms gave the national NAMI organization at least $11.72 million between 1996 and mid-1999.

The Scientific Program Committee (SPC) of the American Psychiatric Association has accepted funds from the following pharmaceutical companies:

  • Abbott Laboratories
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
  • Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc.
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and
  • Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.
  • Cephalon, Inc.
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • IVAX Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica
  • King Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
  • McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals
  • Pfizer Inc
  • Sanofi-Synthelabo, Inc.
  • Shire US Inc.