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.

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.