The QPRA, or Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association, was founded on the initiative of Thomas A. Ban in October 1963 by a group of about 20 people involved in psychopharmacological research in the Province of Quebec, Canada. At the same meeting, held in the Medical Library of the Verdun Protestant Hospital (Douglas Hospital), in Verdun, Heinz E. Lehmann was elected president and Thomas A. Ban, executive secretary of the Association. The primary objective of the Association was the improvement of standards in clinical psychopharmacological research. Another objective was the facilitation of communication of research findings by the organization of symposia and colloquia. In the 15 years that followed, the Association held meetings with some regularity. The proceedings of six   of these meetings were published in books (Lehmann and Ban 1964, 1965, 1968; Lehmann, Berthiaume and Ban 1964; Villeneuve 1976; Villeneuve and Bordeleau 1973). The Association was dissolved at the end of 1980 with its remaining funds, approximately $ 2,000.00, transferred to the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (Ban 2004).

Ban TA. The history of the Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association. Budapest: Animula; 2004, pp.621-3.

Lehmann HE, Ban TA, editors. The Butyrophenones in Psychiatry. Montreal: Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association; 1964.

Lehmann HE, Ban TA, editors. Toxicity and Adverse Reaction Studies with Neuroleptis and Antidepressants. Montreal: Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association; 1965.

Lehmann HE, Ban TA.The Thioxanthenes. Basel: Karger; 1968.

Lehmann HE, Berthiaume M, Ban TA, editors. Trimipramins, A New Antidepressant. Montreal: Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association; 1964.   

Villeneuve A. Proceedingsof the First Canadian International Symposium on Lithium. Quebec: Les Presses de l’Universite Laval; 1976.

Villeneuve A, Bordeleau J-M, editors. The Diphenylbutylpiperidines.  Quebec: Les Presses de l’Universite Laval; 1973.

Thomas A. Ban

April 9, 2015