As assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma, he led the third year medical student rotation in psychiatry and founded the Depression Clinic. He then joined the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas as associate professor, Professor and subsequently Vice Chair in Psychiatry.[3] He was later also appointed Vice Chair and Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.[3] Subsequently, as Professor and Vice Dean of Clinical Sciences at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore from 2008 to 2013,[1] he established and developed specialized programs to launch and support patient-oriented research careers for clinicians by creating the Academic Medicine Research Institute, and a program in clinical research for third-year medical students.[1]
His research has focused on the development and testing of innovative treatments for depressive and bipolar disorders including medications, medication combinations, somatic treatments, psychotherapy, and disease management protocols.[3] Rush's work is widely recognized nationally and internationally, and has received awards from many professional organizations including the American College of Psychiatrists, American Psychopathological Association the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association and the Society for Biological Psychiatry, among others.[3] In 2014, Thomson Reuters recognized Dr. Rush as one of the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”.[6]
Selected awards and honors
The 2014 American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP): Donald L Klein Lifetime Achievement Award
The 2014 Thomson Reuters: World's Most Influential Scientific Minds
The 2012 Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS): Outstanding Faculty for Clinical Sciences
The 2007 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Mind of America Scientific Research Award for outstanding lifetime contribution to the study of depression
The 2007 American Psychiatric Association (APA): Award for Research in Psychiatry
The 2006 American Medical Writers Association (AMWA): John P. McGovern Medal for preeminent contributions to biomedical communication
The 2006 Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP): Gold Medal Award for lifetime research
The 2003 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: Professional of the Year Award
The 2002 Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP): George N. Thompson Founders Award for Distinguished Service
The 2000 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD): The Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Affective Illness Research
The 2000 Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons: Dept. of Psychiatry, Edward J. Sachar Award
The 2000 Mental Health Association of Texas: Ring of Honor
The 2000 American Society for Psychosocial Research: Gerald Klerman Award
The 1999 American College of Psychiatrists (ACP): Award for Research in Mood Disorders
The 1999 American Psychopathological Association: Paul Hoch Award
The 1998 National Depressive & Manic-Depressive Association (NDMDA): Outstanding Research in Affective Disorders Award
The 1992 Institute of Living: C. Charles Burlingame Award for Outstanding Contributions to Psychiatric Research and Education
The 1992 The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital: Strecker Award
Works
Selected books
Rush, A.J., First, M.B., Blacker, D. (Eds.). Handbook of Psychiatric Measures, Second Edition. American Psychiatric Publishing Inc., 2008.
Basco, M.R. and Rush, A.J. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Bipolar Disorder, Second Edition. New York: Guilford Press, 2005; Paperback, 2007; first edition, 1996.
Rush, A.J. (Ed.). Mood Disorders: Systematic Medication Management. Modern Problems of Pharmacopsychiatry, Vol. 25. Basel, Switzerland: S. Karger, AG, 1997.
Wilkes, T.C.R., Belsher, G., Rush, A.J., Frank, E. and Associates. Cognitive Therapy for Depressed Adolescents. New York: Guilford Press, 1994.
Rush, A.J. and Altshuler, K.Z. (Eds.), Depression: Basic Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press, 1986.
Rush, A. J.Beating Depression. London: Century Publishing Co. Ltd. And New York: Facts on File Inc. 1983
Rush, A.J. (Ed.) Short-term Psychotherapies for Depression. New York: Guilford Press, 1982
Beck, A.T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F. and Emory, G. Cognitive Therapy of Depression: New York, Guilford. Press, 1979.
Selected articles
Rush, A.J., Trivedi, M.H., Stewart, J.W., Nierenberg, A.A., Fava, M., Kurian, B.T., Warden, D., Morris, D.W., Luther, J.F., Husain, M.M., Cook, I.A., Shelton R.C., Lesser, I.M., Kornstein, S.G., Wisniewski, S.R. Combining Medications to Enhance Depression Outcomes (CO-MED): Acute and long-term outcomes: A single-blind randomized study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168: 689–701, 2011.
Williams, L., Rush, A.J., Koslow, S.H., Wisniewski, S.R., Cooper, N.J., Nemeroff, C.B., Schatzberg, A.F., Gordon, E. International study to predict optimized treatment for depression (iSPOT-D), a randomized clinical trial: Rationale and design. Trials, 12:4, 2011.
Rush, A.J., Trivedi, M.H., Ibrahim, H.M., Carmody, T.J., Arnow, B., Klein, D.N., Markowitz, J.C., Ninan, P.T., Kornstein, S., Manber, R., Thase, M.E., Kocsis, J.H. and Keller, M.B. The 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) Clinician Rating (QIDS-C) and Self-Report (QIDS-SR): A psychometric evaluation in patients with chronic major depression. Biological Psychiatry, 54(5):573-583, 2003. [link]
Schatzberg, A.F., Rush, A.J., Arnow, B.A., Banks, P.L., Blalock, J.A., Borian, F.E., Howland, R., Klein, D.N., Kocsis, J.H., Kornstein, S.G., Manber, R., Markowitz, J.C., Miller, I., Ninan, P.T., Rothbaum, B.O., Thase, M.E., Trivedi, M.H., and Keller, M.B. Chronic depression: medication (nefazodone) or psychotherapy (CBASP) is effective when the other is not. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(5):513-520, 2005.
Rush, A.J., Beck, A.T., Kovacs, M. and Hollon, S.D. Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depressed outpatients. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1:17-37, 1977. Reprinted in Annual Review of Behavior Therapy Theory and Practice, C.M. Franks and G.T. Wilson (Eds.), Brunner/Mazel Publications, New York, 1978.
Rush, A.J., Crismon, M.L., Kashner, T.M., Toprac, M.G., Carmody, T.J., Trivedi, M.H., Suppes, T., Miller, A.L., Biggs, M.M., Shores-Wilson, K., Witte, B.P., Shon, S.P., Rago, W.V. and Altshuler, K.Z. for the TMAP Research Group. Texas Medication Algorithm Project, Phase 3 (TMAP-3): Rationale and study design. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 64:357-369, 2003.
Rush, A.J., Kraemer, H.C., Sackeim, H.A., Fava, M., Trivedi, M.H., Frank, E., Ninan, P.T., Thase, M.E., Gelenberg, A.J., Kupfer, D.J., Regier, D.A., Rosenbaum, J.F., Ray, O. and Schatzberg, A.F. Report by the ACNP Task Force on response and remission in major depressive disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31(9):1842-1853, 2006.
Trivedi, M.H., Rush, A.J., Crismon, M.L., Kashner, T.M., Toprac, M.G., Carmody, T.J., Key, T., Biggs, M.M., Shores-Wilson, K., Witte, B., Suppes, T., Miller, A.L., Altshuler, K.Z., and Shon, S.P. Clinical results for patients with major depressive disorder in the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP). Archives of General Psychiatry, 61(7):669-680, 2004
Adli, M., Bauer, M., Rush, A.J. Algorithms and collaborative-care systems for depression: Are they effective and why? A systematic review. Biological Psychiatry, 59(11):1029-1038, 2006.
Rush, A.J., Trivedi, M.H., Wisniewski, S.R., Nierenberg, A.A., Stewart, J.W., Warden, D., Niederehe, G., Thase, M.E., Lavori, P.W., Lebowitz, B.D., McGrath, P.J., Rosenbaum, J.F., Sackeim, H.A., Kupfer, D.J., Luther, J., Fava, M. Acute and longer-term outcomes in depressed outpatients requiring one or several treatment steps: a STAR*D report. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163:1905-1917, 2006.
Rush, A.J., Koran, L.M., Keller, M.B., Markowitz, J.C., Harrison, W.M., Miceli, R.J., Fawcett, J.A., Gelenberg, A.J., Hirschfeld, R.M.A., Klein, D.N., Kocsis, J.H., McCullough, J.P., Schatzberg, A.J. and Thase, M.E. The treatment of chronic depression, Part 1: Study design and rationale for evaluating the comparative efficacy of sertraline and imipramine as acute, crossover, continuation, and maintenance phase therapies. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59:589-597, 1998.
Personal life
Rush has two sons, Matthew John Rush and Augustus John Rush III, and four grandchildren. He presently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Dee Miller Rush. He provides consultation to individuals as well as academic, governmental and industrial organizations.
