President's Message

January 2025

Dear Colleagues and Members,

As a long-standing member of PNIRS, I am deeply honored to step into the role of president of our Society. As a pioneering, interdisciplinary, and inclusive scientific organization, our core values will continue to guide us in our mission to improve human health and behavior.

Having been a member of PNIRS from the early days of my scientific career, I personally know the importance of mentorship, training, and education for early-career scientists. This year’s Annual Meeting will place particular emphasis on enhancing education and mentorship for trainees, ensuring that the next generation of researchers is well-equipped for the future of PNI research. Our community has become like a family, and I warmly welcome all our new members, especially those just beginning their scientific journeys. I would like to extend my thanks to our outgoing president, Chris Engeland, for championing diversity in PNI research, particularly during the 2024 Halifax meeting.

PNIRS benefits from an incredibly rich history, with many of its founding members being true pioneers in the field. This year’s conference theme, “PNI and Mental Health,” will explore how our past discoveries in psychoneuroimmunology have laid the foundation for the personalized medicine of tomorrow. For this topic, I have invited Andy Miller and Valeria Mondelli to chair the Scientific Affairs Committee this year, and I warmly thank them for accepting. The presidential symposium will retrace this journey through lectures by Raz Yirmiya, Robert Dantzer, Andy Miller, and Carmine Pariante, who will share their groundbreaking research with us. This symposium will offer us a unique opportunity to showcase our proven track record of innovative discoveries, and to highlight how the past helps shape a better future.

We are also pleased to partner with the French National Program for Precision Psychiatry’s educational branch, PROPSY-EDU, to offer specialized educational sessions. These will highlight the future of precision psychiatry, an area where PNI research plays a critical role in understanding mental health, biological processes, and the development of personalized diagnostic and treatment tools. In addition, several social activities will be organized during the meeting including a trainee networking function and a mentor-mentee team building event, an occasion to thank mentees and mentors alike.

The conference will be held in my hometown of Bordeaux, France. The study of the brain holds a very important place in the academic world of Bordeaux. From the 19th century, Bordeaux doctors included big names in French neurology, such as François Magendie, Professor at the College de France and mentor of Claude Bernard. Building on this history, in 1994 the federative research institute in clinical and experimental neuroscience was born in Bordeaux, then, in 2013, the federative structure took the name of ‘Bordeaux Neurocampus’, which represents today 6 research institutes, more than 750 research staff, recognized as one of the leading European centres for research in neuroscience, from the molecular level to patient care. In this particularly rich context, the annual conference of the PNIRS society represents an event all the more important as the field of PNI is at the very heart of the emergence of new discoveries and treatments for mental illnesses. An opportunity to bring the ‘P’ and ‘I’ closer to a vast ‘N’ community.

I am hoping that the meeting will also be the opportunity for you to discover the many attractions of the Bordeaux region. The conference site is very conveniently located right in the city center, with an easy access to public transportation to explore the surroundings. On that note, I would like to thank the management and organization team, Jessica Widing, Meg Gorham and Amanda Joslin, for their hard work in ensuring a successful event.

PNIRS Presents Lecture series will continue in the spring to present state-of-the art research in PNI. The first lecture will be given by Eric S. Wohleb in February 2025 and will be chaired by our Scientific Affairs Committee co-chair, Valeria Mondelli.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the outstanding performance of our Society Journals—Brain, Behavior, and Immunity; Brain, Behavior, and Immunity – Health; and Brain, Behavior, and Immunity – Integrative.  Brain, Behavior, and Immunity continues to be a leading journal in the fields of psychiatry, immunology, and neuroscience, and I congratulate Carmine Pariante and the editorial board of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity – Health for the journal’s first impact factor in 2023.

As we begin 2025, I wish you all the best for the year ahead and look forward to welcoming you to Bordeaux in June!

Warm regards,

Lucile Capuron
President, PNIRS

• Message from the President April 2024
• Message from the President Fall 2023
• Message from the President January 23
• Message from the President August 22
• Message from the President January 2022
• Message from the President September 2021
• Message from the President August 2019 -2020
• Message from the President August 2018
• Message from the President August 2017
• Message from the President August 2016
• Message from the President August 2015
• Message from the President August 2014
• Message from the President June 2013
• Message from the President December 2012
• Message from the President June 2012
• Message from the President July 2011
• Message from the President July 2010
• Message from the President July 2009
• Message from the President July 2008
• Message from the President September 2007
• Message from the President October 2006
• Message from the President October 2005
• Message from the President August 2005

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