| Veterans
News Flash 
Dr.
Jonathan Shay, Awarded the "Genius
Award" From the MacArthur Foundation
WASHINGTON -- A Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee in Boston,
Dr. Jonathan Shay, has been awarded the so-called “Genius Award” from
the MacArthur Foundation. Shay, the author of two
popular books about post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), has been a VA staff psychiatrist treating
combat veterans with PTSD since November 1987.
 “Dr.
Shay (left) is living proof that VA is providing
our veterans with the best health care this country
has to offer, especially for the treatment of PTSD,” said
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. “Our
veterans deserve -- and VA is providing -- world-class
health care.”
Shay was one of 24 Americans
who each recently received a $500,000 grant from
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
one of the nation’s
largest philanthropic organizations, for “exceptional
merit and promise of continued creative work.” Shay
combines a study of classic literature with 20
years of experience treating veterans in Boston
to explain PTSD to both the public and health care
professionals.
In addition to publications in professional journals,
he is the author of Achilles
in Vietnam and Odysseus in America, two widely regarded books that helped
spread the understanding that PTSD is an age-old
battlefield injury by comparing the works of the
ancient Greek poet Homer to the experiences of
modern combat veterans.
He also pioneered the
use of certain anti-depression medicine, called “selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors,” for combat trauma, a treatment
that now has broad endorsement for veterans with
psychological injury.
Besides working for VA, Shay has also worked with
the military services and the Defense Department
in a variety of capacities to foster an understanding
of PTSD, improve military leadership and strengthen
ethics training for the military.
Shay received his bachelor’s
degree from Harvard College, and his M.D. and
Ph.D. in neuropathology from the University of
Pennsylvania.
SOURCE:
US Department of Veterans Affair
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