The American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP) presents the Paul Wender Best Paper in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry Award to a recipient who has been published in the past year (January 2025 to present date) for The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Known as the “Dean of ADHD” by his colleagues, Paul H. Wender, MD, was a pioneer in identifying and treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A researcher and clinician who treated patients with ADHD for many years, he offered insights into the progression of ADHD, as well as dietary, drug, and psychological treatments. He was the author of the classic handbook on the subject, ADHD: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adults.

Wender was involved in the study of ADHD for over thirty years and wrote the first monograph on the disorder in 1971 (Minimal Brain Dysfunction in Children). In this monograph, he advanced the hypotheses that the disorder was genetic in origin and was mediated by decreased activity in dopaminergic systems in the brain. Because he found education of the parents of ADHD children played a substantial role in treatment, he described the symptoms, the causes, and the management of children with ADHD in a book published in 1974, The Hyperactive Child. The 4th edition, ADHD in Children and Adults, was published in 2000 and contains information for ADHD adults about how accurate diagnosis can be made and how ADHD in adults is best treated. He and his colleagues discovered that ADHD in adults was a recognizable disorder. They initiated studies of ADHD in adults beginning in 1976 and have conducted extensive research in this area since that time. He wrote the first monograph on ADHD in adults (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults) in 1995.

The award consists of a $1,000 stipend and a plaque to be given during the 2026 ASCP Annual Meeting (formerly NCDEU) on May 26-29, 2026 in Miami, FL. The Award Winner must attend the 2026 ASCP Annual Meeting.

The ASCP Award Committee will review the papers submitted to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry for the 2025 year. Papers must be original reports or meta-analysis on patient relevant research relevant to clinical psychopharmacology. The top five downloaded papers from 2025 will also be included in the nomination.

Congratulations to the 2025 Paul Wender Best Paper in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry Award Winner, Dr. Margaret Sibley!

Paper: Characteristics and predictors of fluctuating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the Multimodal Treatment of ADHD (MTA) study.​

Dr. Margaret Sibley is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She has authored over 120 scholarly publications on ADHD in adolescence and adulthood with research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Institute of Education Sciences. She is Secretary of the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD), a Professional Advisory Board Member for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Attention Disorders. She is the author of Parent-Teen Therapy for Executive Function Deficits and ADHD: Building Skills and Motivation published by Guilford Press in 2017.