Professor Dan Stein has a list of impressive achievements behind him
Psychiatric disorders are common and complex, often involving significant suffering for the individuals and their families and at enormous cost. Professor Dan Stein, head of the department of psychiatry and mental health at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and affiliated hospitals such as Groote Schuur Hospital, and director of the Stellenbosch University (SU)/UCT Medical Research Council unit on anxiety and stress disorders, is committed to trying to understand more about how the brain works, unlocking the extraordinary puzzle and challenge that it represents, and to bring about help for those who need it most.
“My work is driven by trying to understand more about how the brain functions, more about what makes people tick and why we think and feel the way we do, and more about how society impacts the brain-mind and its disorders,” says Stein. “It’s also driven in part by attention to mental illnesses that many have often overlooked — such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and trichotillomania [the compulsive urge to pull one’s hair] — and in part by attention to phenomena that are highly relevant to South Africa and Africa, such as exposure to psychological trauma, neuro-HIV/Aids and substance use disorders.”
Stein did a BSc Med with majors in biochemistry and in psychology and an MBChB at UCT and his psychiatry training and post-doctoral fellowship in the area of psychopharmacology at Columbia University in New York. He completed a PhD in the area of clinical neuroscience and a DPhil in philosophy at SU.
“I studied medicine because I thought that it would allow me to pursue my keen interests in both the sciences and the humanities,” says Stein. “Once I was in medical school, it struck me that of all branches of medicine, psychiatry was best situated at the interface of the sciences and humanities. Psychiatry as a clinical profession, and as a science, requires one to really understand the brain, to understand people, and also the role of society in impacting on behaviour.”
For Stein, psychiatry is an inspiration in and of itself. He is driven to make a difference and is inspired by the fact that psychiatry research requires attention to, and integration of, knowledge and understanding about how the brain works, about what makes people think and feel the way they do, and the ways in which culture and society influence this. He is also inspired at home by the outstanding research that his wife does, and by the questioning minds of his three children.
“I am also inspired by the integration of clinical care for people living with psychiatric disorders, together with research into improving such care and training the next generation of clinician-researchers,” he says. “I am also driven by the way in which South Africa and Africa provide a unique and important context within which to undertake this cross-cutting and cutting-edge kind of work.”
A list of achievements trail behind Stein and his work, and many of the people who have worked with him in the department of psychiatry, in the SU/UCT Medical Research Council Unit, and in UCT’s Brain-Behaviour Initiative, which he directs, have become national and international experts. “Many colleagues have gone on to become national and international experts and leaders in a range of psychiatric sub-specialities, such as neuropsychiatry, addiction psychiatry and public mental health,” says Stein. “Our department of psychiatry, the MRC Unit and the Brain-Behaviour Initiative have collaborators in dozens of countries. I’m particularly excited by some of the collaborative ‘big science’ work that we are doing in the areas of neuro-imaging and neuro-genetics, combining data from different countries and doing more together than we could alone.”
Stein believes that his biggest achievement is having been able to contribute to a diverse range of work in addressing brain and mind and society, and having been able to address some areas of specific interest, such as anxiety and related disorders, in more detail.
“I am proud of the extent to which my colleagues and I have increased the attention given to some very overlooked conditions,” says Stein. “We have also helped to increase awareness of the importance of early exposure to psychological trauma and how some individuals become vulnerable to mental illnesses while others become more resilient.”
The department of psychiatry and mental health at UCT is another source of pride for Stein, as he points to how much his colleagues have contributed and how far it has grown over the past 10 years, with exceptional patient care, research capacity building, and training.
“The different divisions of our department provide high-quality care with constrained resources and they have built clinical and research capacity in the next generation of staff and students. They have done absolutely cutting-edge research in a wide range of areas that are crucially relevant to South Africa and Africa. I am extremely grateful to the many colleagues in my own department and other universities who have often led the work I’ve been involved in. Any contributions I make ultimately reflect the key insights and hard work of this fantastic team of people.”