In a "dawn of the new millennium" interview in late 1999, the psychiatrist Anthony Clare was asked who he thought embodied the future of psychiatry in the years to come. His answer was Lyn Pilowsky, who has died aged 46 from a brain tumour.
Lyn was at the forefront of molecular imaging in schizophrenia and a pioneer in the use of a scanning technique known as single photon emission tomography (Spet). One of her first major research studies, on the effects of antipsychotic drugs on dopamine in the brain, led to the end of the practice of using high doses of traditional antipsychotic drugs on mentally ill people. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in side effects, immeasurably improving the quality of life for patients with schizophrenia and related illnesses. She was the first to uncover the basis of the atypical action (limbic selectivity) of clozapine and other antipsychotic drugs.
Lyn was born in Sheffield. Her mother was a nurse and her father, Issy Pilowsky, was a psychiatrist who later became professor of psychiatry at the University of Adelaide, Australia (1971-97). He is known for his work around the concept of abnormal illness behaviour, and for developing the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire. Her family moved to Sydney in 1967, relocating to Adelaide in 1973. Lyn was educated at high schools in Adelaide and after qualifying as a doctor at the city's Flinders University in 1984, decided to pursue a career in psychiatry.
She began training at the Maudsley hospital, south London, in 1986, and although she initially intended to become a psychoanalyst (and completed the lengthy training), she found that she had a passion for psychopharmacology. In 1990 she was awarded a Wellcome training fellowship - the first of many such prestigious research grants - to study patients with schizophrenia using Spet, and she never looked back. She was always at the cutting edge of research, seeking new methods of getting closer to the molecular basis of schizophrenia. In September 1994 she was awarded her PhD from the University of London for her thesis, which centred on Spet. She had a distinguished and extensive publication record in national and international journals (more than 100 papers), and was an entertaining and much sought-after speaker at scientific conferences worldwide.
Her more recent work concentrated on novel targets in the brain for treating schizophrenia. Driven by her determination to improve the quality of patients' lives, she always hoped that her research would lead to better treatments for schizophrenia. In 2004, she was made professor of neurochemical imaging and psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, and in 2005 was awarded an honorary professorship in neurochemical imaging and psychiatry at University College London.
Lyn was also an outstanding clinician. She was an innovator who developed a national antipsychotic review service and founded an early onset psychosis service at the Maudsley hospital. She encouraged those with whom she worked to always approach patients with compassion. She was a warm, outgoing person, loved by her patients, to whom she always gave her best.
She was also a marvellous teacher, supervising numerous PhDs and willingly giving her time and energy to her students and colleagues. She was the first female academic at the Institute of Psychiatry to be honoured by having her portrait hung in the institute's hall. It is most appropriate that she was accorded such recognition, as her contribution to psychopharmacology was renowned internationally.
Lyn was a talented musician and performed as lead vocalist in a bluegrass band for several years, also collaborating on songwriting. She continued to take great delight in singing and would often give impromptu performances - resulting on one occasion in a job offer as in-house singer at a restaurant.
After she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2003, she bore her illness with dignity and courage. She is survived by her daughter, Judith Mackinlay, her father, two sisters, Kathy and Marion, and brother Paul.
· Lyn Sara Pilowsky, psychiatrist, born April 8 1961; died July 16 2007
