Soonjo Hwang, MD, has completed his 5-year term as the Anna O. Stake Professor in Child Psychiatry and is assuming a new role as the Director of Global Research in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Hwang was named Anna O. Stake Professor in 2020. He was honored to hold the role, which was previously held by the former Vice-Chair of Research William Burke, MD, and the former Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division Director and now Vice Chancellor for External Relations, UNMC, and Vice President for External Relations, University of Nebraska System, Chris Kratochvil, MD.
“The Anna O. Stake Professorship has long been a resource to help support research in the Department of Psychiatry,” said Dr. Kratochvil. “I was honored to hold it from 2014-2020, during which time I was supported as I developed my research leadership roles at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine. I was pleased to see it subsequently awarded to Dr. Soonjo Hwang, facilitating his growing research career as well.”
During his tenure as Anna O. Stake Professor, Dr. Hwang’s research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and many other organizations. In February 2024, Dr. Hwang’s work on “Neural Responses to Intranasal Oxytocin in Youth With Severe Irritability” was published in the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry.
Howard Liu, MD, MBA, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, stated that the department will recruit another leader for the Anna O. Stake Professorship to foster research in the department and with key stakeholders.
“I have appreciated Dr. Hwang’s vision in fostering local, regional, and national child psychiatry research, and I look forward to seeing his international expertise recognized in this new global research director role,” Dr. Liu said.
Dr. Hwang’s new role, which started on November 1, 2025, will include a new emphasis on building the department’s global partnerships in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan as part of the UNMC East Asia Accelerator initiative, led by Dr. Howard Liu. This will include coordination of international research and entrepreneurship opportunities, applications for extramural grant funding, and mentorship of international faculty, research staff, and learners.
In recent years, Dr. Hwang has played a pivotal role in building collaborations between UNMC and the South Korean medical device company Hippo T&C, the South Korean Ministry of Science, Information and Technology, and the National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. He also continues his extensive work with Korea University, the National Institute of Alternative Medicine in Korea, and Seoul National University.
Congratulations, Dr. Hwang!