Soonjo Hwang, MD, has transitioned from the Anna O. Stake Professorship in Child Psychiatry to 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 fellow Department of Psychiatry Research Director William Burke, MD, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Chris Kratochvil, who currently serves as vice chancellor for external relations at UNMC.
“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.”
Dr. Howard Liu, MD, MBA, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, stated that the department will seek another candidate for the Anna O. Stake Professorship to promote development of research career in young faculty members of the department.
Dr. Hwang’s new role, which started on November 1, 2025, will include several duties that he previously performed during his time as research director. Dr. Hwang will promote positive relationships and outcomes between the Department of Psychiatry and international academic institutions to foster research and academic partnership as prioritized by the chair. He will apply for and support department efforts in securing extramural grants with an emphasis on international funding as well as promoting department scholarship by developing opportunities to publish, present, and engage in research projects among department faculty, trainees and international partners.
In recent years, Dr. Hwang has helped build collaborations between UNMC and South Korean company Hippo T&C, UNMC and the South Korean Ministry of Science, Information and Technology, and UNMC and Taiwan-based National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University. He also continues his extensive work with Korea University, National Institute of Alternative Medicine in Kora, and Seoul National University.
Along with working with international universities and companies, Dr. Hwang has also collaborated with the United States’ National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, and other organizations. In February 2024, Dr. Hwang’s work on “Neural Responses to Intranasal Oxytocin in Youths With Severe Irritability” was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.