In memoriam: Professor Dan J. Stein (1962-2025) - a global pioneer with an African heart - Editorial

Sep 29, 2026

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Editorial memorializing Professor Dan J. Stein (1962–2025), highlighting his impact as a clinician, scientist, philosopher, and friend in international and African psychiatry. The text traces his early life, training, and move from apartheid-era South Africa to psychiatric residency and psychopharmacology research in the United States and Columbia University. It then describes his return to build post-apartheid psychiatry, founding key research units, leading national mental health studies, and integrating “bench, bed, bundu” approaches across neuroscience, clinical practice, and public mental health implementation.

LanguageEnglish

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Editorial

Early life and training

Building post-apartheid psychiatry in South Africa

International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2026, pyaf079 [https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyaf079](https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyaf079) Advance access publication 18 December 2025 Editorial Editorial In memoriam: Professor Dan J. Stein (1962-2025)—a global pioneer with an African heart Gregers Wegener1 , * , Bernard Lerer2 , Alan Frazer3 , Anthony Grace4 , Kazutaka Ikeda5 , Gabriella Gobbi6 , Allan Young7 , Joseph Zohar8 , Pierre Blier9 , Siegfried Kasper10 , John Krystal11 , Shigeto Yamawaki12 , Anthony Philips13 , Hans-Jürgen Möller14 , Robert H. Belmaker15 , Lukoye Atwoli16 , David Nutt17 , Brian H. Harvey18 , Soraya Seedat19 , Michael Berk20 , Robin Emsley19 1 Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark 2 Department of Psychiatry, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel 3 Department of Pharmacology, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States 4 Departments of Neuroscience, Psychiatry & Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States 5 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan 6 Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada 7 Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom 8 Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 9 Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada 10 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria 11 Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States 12 Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan 13 Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 14 Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany 15 Department of Psychiatry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel 16 Medical College, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya 17 Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom 18 Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 19 Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa 20 IMPACT Institute, Deakin University, Geelong/Melbourne, VIC, Australia *Corresponding author: Gregers Wegener, MD, PhD, DSc(med), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, PalleJuul-Jensens Boulevard 99 (A601), DK-8200 Aarhus N, Denmark ([wegener@clin.au.dk](wegener@clin.au.dk)) 17 SEPTEMBER 1962 TO 6 DECEMBER 2025 With profound sadness we mark the passing of Professor Dan J. Stein—clinician, scientist, philosopher, and friend. A pioneer of International and African psychiatry, and a central figure in global neuropsychopharmacology, he devoted his life to understanding and relieving the burden of mental disorders in South Africa, across the African continent, and worldwide. In his death, we have lost a true giant. EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING Dan Stein was born on September 17, 1962, in South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT), completing an intercalated BSc degree with majors in biochemistry and psychology before graduating MB ChB with distinction. Like many of his generation, he faced the moral crisis of apartheid. To avoid compulsory service in the all-White South African army, he left for the United States, where he completed residency training in psychiatry and a postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He subsequently obtained two doctoral Received for publication: December 11, 2025 . Accepted: December 16, 2025 . © The Author(s) 2025 . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the CINP. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([https://creativecommons.org/li

FAQs

Who is Professor Dan J. Stein, and what is the purpose of this editorial?

The editorial is an in memoriam tribute to Professor Dan J. Stein (1962–2025). It marks his passing and summarizes his contributions to psychiatry, neuroscience, and public mental health.

What aspects of Stein’s early life and training are highlighted?

Stein is described as born in South Africa, trained in medicine at the University of Cape Town, and later completing psychiatry residency and postdoctoral psychopharmacology training in the United States and at Columbia University.

How did Stein help shape post-apartheid psychiatry in South Africa?

After apartheid ended, he returned to South Africa and helped establish and direct major research units. These efforts included foundational anxiety and stress disorder research and leadership in large national studies of mental disorders.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya