Professor Rachel Yehuda, who is known for her pioneering research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the use of psychedelics in treatment, has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Dr Gertrude Herzfeld Prize, a biennial award that recognises the achievements of Jewish women in medical science.
A psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Yehuda whose areas of research also focus on intergenerational trauma and neuroendocrinology, will be presented with the award at a ceremony at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on March 8 – International Women’s Day.
Based at the Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai in New York, Yehuda founded Mount Sinai’s world-leading traumatic stress studies division in 1991 and, in 2020, she established The Parsons Research Centre for Psychedelic Healing, which she currently directs.
She first became interested in the field of traumatic stress as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Medical School, when she and colleagues observed that Vietnam War combat veterans with PTSD had significantly lower levels of cortisol compared to those without PTSD. This was particularly notable, as elevated cortisol levels are typically associated with stress.
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