Dr. A. George Awad is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Canada. Until recently, Dr. Awad served as the Founding President of the International Society of CNS Clinical Trials Methodology, and also as the Psychiatrist-in-Chief of Humber River Hospital, in Toronto. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology Medal for meritorious contributions to neuropsychopharmacology, the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Award for distinguished researcher in schizophrenia, and, recently, the Andrew C. Leon Distinguished Career Award in CNS clinical trial methodology and neurosciences. Over his forty-five years of academic and research contributions, Dr. Awad dedicated his research focus on the "person" behind the illness and the outcomes that matter most to the patient.

Dr. Lakshmi N.P. Voruganti joined Dr. Awad as both a Master's and PhD candidate, and made significant contributions exploring and extending Dr. Awad's early research contributions, particularly in the area of neurobiology of subjective tolerability to antipsychotic medications. After gaining his PhD degree, he pursued an independent clinical research career as an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada and, later, at McMaster's University in Hamilton, Ontario. At present, he is a practicing psychiatrist at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

Redefines the concept of quality of life in schizophrenia as a bio-psycho-social construct to provide the reader with a novel contextual understanding

Part I:Basic and Conceptual Issues.- Schizophrenia and it's sequelae.- Issues that slowed progress in the assessment of health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Social cognition and health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Conceptual issues in cultural adaptation and the role of culture in assessment of health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Part II:Methodological Issues.- A review of quality of life assessment measures in schizophrenia - limitations and future developments - a review.- Assessment of burden of care and quality of life of caregivers in schizophrenia.- Electronic technology and advances in assessment of outcomes.- Modern psychometric approaches to analysis of scales for health-related quality of life.- Part III:Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia.- Health-related quality of life as an outcome and mediator of other outcomes.- Using routine quality of life assessment to improve effectiveness of community mental health care.- Quality of life assessments in the development and clinical trials of new antipsychotics - pharmaceutical industry perspective.- Quality of life and health-costs - the feasibility of cost-utility analysis in schizophrenia.- Health-related quality of life in schizophrenia: health policy and resource allocation.- Beyond assessment of quality of life in schizophrenia: cultural, clinical and research perspectives from India - a case study.- Part IV:Reinventing Quality of Life in Schizophrenia.- Concluding remarks and future challenges.

This book fills a significant research gap in how to integrate quality of life data into relevant clinical care plans, and to broaden its applicability to pharmacoeconomic studies of antipsychotic medications and health policy decision-making. It also presents an argument for reformulating the concept of health-related quality of life in schizophrenia as a bio-psycho-social construct, which provides an opportunity to better explore the many factors underpinning the concept itself. 
Internationally renowned experts from different scientific backgrounds and scopes of expertise each make arguments for the need to invigorate quality of life as a concept in schizophrenia, by broadening its usefulness for clinical and research efforts. The book represents an important addition to the extensive contributions of its editors, Dr. A. George Awad and Dr. Lakshmi N.P. Voruganti, to the field of quality of life.