Chicago IL: Dr. Subhash Pandey was honored with prestigious \'Faculty of the Year\' award during the commencement ceremony of the College of Medicine (COM), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) at UIC pavilion in front of several thousand people on May 6th, 2016. This ceremony was attended by University leadership, president, chancellor, vice chancellors, provost, dean, associate deans and head and faculty of various departments of the University. This award was presented to him by Dr. Dimitri T. Azar, dean of COM, University of Illinois.

Dr. Pandey is a Professor of Psychiatry, Anatomy and Cell Biology, and Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Alcohol Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Pandey is also a Senior Research Career Scientist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago. Alcohol addiction is one of the major public health concerns worldwide. Dr. Pandey is well known for his scientific contributions towards a better understanding of the pathophysiology of alcohol abuse with or without anxiety disorders. Dr. Pandey has authored several peer-reviewed research and review articles and book chapters in the field of alcohol addiction. In addition, he has trained several scientists and physicians in the field of psychiatric disorders including alcohol addictive behaviors.

Each year, the faculty of the year award recognizes outstanding achievements in research and teaching or clinical service and is a distinct honor for the faculty who is chosen from all (Chicago, Peoria, Rockford and Urbana) University of Illinois campuses of the COM. Dr. Pandey was chosen for this honor by his peers in recognition of his outstanding body of academic work and the recognition he has achieved as a world leader in the epigenetics of alcohol use and abuse. His innovative research work has demonstrated that alcohol drinking, by causing chemical modifications of proteins and DNA, interacts with and affects regulation of genes. This way alcohol alters neuronal function in the brain and behaviors of individuals. His research has provided a deeper understanding of the underlying processes that mediate the transition of a normal brain to an addicted brain. In 2015, he established a premier center on alcohol research in epigenetics, The Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics (CARE), at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This is the only NIH funded Alcohol Research Center in the state of Illinois and the first center in the US studying the epigenetic basis of alcoholism.

Binge alcohol drinking is very common in adolescents and pioneering research work by Dr. Pandey has demonstrated that exposure of the developing brain to alcohol in the crucial adolescent stage produces a long-lasting change in gene expression in key brain circuitries that are responsible for controlling anxiety, emotion and cognition and thereby predispose an individual to adult psychopathology later in life.

Dr. Pandey has received various honors and awards; most notably the 2010 Bowles Lectureship Award in alcoholism research presented by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was recognized as a noted biomedical VA researcher in 2014. He received a young scientist award in 1997 and the Mario Topo distinguished scientist award in 2014 by the Association of Scientists of Indian Origin in America. He is an active member of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA) and several other scientific societies.

Dr. Subhash C. Pandey receives the Faculty of the Year award from University Of Illinois College Of Medicine