Jules Angst is a distinguished psychiatrist and seminal figure in the field of mood disorders research whose career has spanned over seven decades at the University of Zurich. Born on December 11, 1926 in Zurich, Switzerland, he completed his medical degree in 1952 and began his psychiatric training at the renowned Burghölzli Psychiatric University Clinic in 1953 under the mentorship of Professor Manfred Bleuler, son of the legendary Eugen Bleuler. He rose through the academic ranks to become Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Zurich Medical School in 1969, where he also served as Head of the Research Department at the Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital until 1994. Following his formal retirement, he maintains his status as Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Zurich while continuing his research activities at the institution, having established himself as one of Switzerland's most influential psychiatric researchers.
Professor Angst's pioneering research has fundamentally shaped contemporary understanding of bipolar disorder and depression through his extensive epidemiological and clinical studies. His longitudinal Zurich Cohort Study, one of the longest-running psychiatric epidemiological investigations, has provided critical insights into the natural course, comorbidity, and diagnostic boundaries of mood and anxiety disorders across the lifespan. His work challenging traditional diagnostic boundaries between unipolar and bipolar depression, particularly his identification of hypomanic features in depression that predict later bipolar disorder, has revolutionized clinical approaches to mood disorders worldwide. With an impressive scholarly output comprising 15 books, 154 book chapters, and 539 journal articles, his research has been instrumental in establishing evidence-based diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches that have been incorporated into international classification systems and clinical practice guidelines.
As President of the European Bipolar Forum since 2003, Professor Angst has played a pivotal leadership role in fostering international collaboration and advancing research on bipolar disorders across continents. His theoretical frameworks on the spectrum of mood disorders have gained widespread acceptance, with contemporary clinicians globally applying his insights on hypomania and depression that were once considered unconventional. Despite his advanced age, he remains actively engaged in research, continuing to publish influential papers that synthesize decades of epidemiological findings and provide new perspectives on the longitudinal course of affective disorders. His enduring legacy includes not only his substantial body of scientific work but also his mentorship of generations of psychiatric researchers who have gone on to lead the field internationally, ensuring that his methodological rigor and conceptual clarity will continue to influence psychiatric science for decades to come.
