Cloninger receives honorary doctorate

C. Robert Cloninger, MD, the Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received an honorary doctorate at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden in a ceremony Oct. 17.

A psychiatrist and expert on drug dependence and personality disorders, Cloninger was selected for his pioneering research on the biological, psychological, social and spiritual foundations of both mental health and illness.

The honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree cited his contributions to understanding the psychology of personality. It also recognized his work in genetics and neurobiology that may make it possible to identify and predict hereditary traits that can increase an individual’s vulnerability to alcoholism and other psychiatric illnesses.