Impulsivity and Addiction: A Tribute to Henri Begleiter

The 2007 NIDA-NIAAA Symposium, part of NIDA's Mini-Convention on Frontiers in Addiction Research, chaired by Drs. Nora Volkow and T.K. Li, and featuring speakers K. Kendler, B. Porjesz, and D. Goldman, was held in honor of Henri Begleiter, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, who passed away on April 6, 2006. Henri was an exceptional scientist of international acclaim, whose innovative approaches to research and scientific vision were an inspiration to us all. He was one of the truly great, wise, and charismatic leaders in the field, who possessed incredible professional and personal gifts. He enjoyed reading voraciously on wideranging topics, always in pursuit of new knowledge and exciting ideas. He had the astonishing ability to integrate information from a wide variety of fields. With his scientific vision and encyclopedic knowledge in multiple fields, he almost single-handedly brought together the fields of neurophysiology, genetics, and alcoholism, and his ideas are the basis and inspiration for this symposium. Henri very much lived in accordance with his favorite quote from Louis Pasteur, which he hung in large letters over his desk: