The Yale Department of Psychiatry belatedly acknowledges the passing of Edward C. Senay, M.D. (1927-2014) on August 10, 2014. “Ed” was professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Chicago at the time of his death.
Ed was one of the leading experts in the world on the course and treatment of addiction, particularly opiate dependence. In his early work, he characterized the sociology of opiate addiction. He and his colleagues studied how “epidemics” of addiction undermined social processes that kept addiction in check and sustained illicit drug use.
Initially with Dr. Jerome Jaffe, and then on his own after Dr. Jaffe left to assume a role in the Nixon White House, Ed led early studies validating the efficacy of methadone and other opiate maintenance strategies and rigorously tested strategies for improving these approaches.
Ed’s connections to Yale were deep. He graduated from Yale College in 1952 with letters in football and baseball. He was reputed to have set a record on the football field and to have been a member of the Torch Honor Society and Skull and Bones. After serving in the army, Ed returned to Yale for medical school (on an athletic scholarship) and psychiatry residency, and Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry.
He joined the Yale Psychiatry faculty, serving on the Consultation Service at Yale-New Haven Hospital. During his residency and faculty years, he worked closely with Daniel X. Freedman. Dr. Freedman recruited Ed to the University of Chicago and he encouraged Ed to work in the area of substance abuse, an area of particular mutual interest.
Ed received many honors for his work including the NIDA Pacesetter Award, the APA Lifetime Achievement Medal, and the NIH Lifetime Teaching Award.
Many in our department still remember Ed’s energy, intelligence, focus, generosity, and mischievous sense of humor.
"On a personal note, Ed was one of my college thesis advisors, with Marion Fischman and Richard Miller," said John H. Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Chair, Department of Psychiatry. "He was an extremely kind and generous mentor. He introduced me to Dr. Freedman, helped me arrange a research elective in a London heroin maintenance clinic, nurtured my interests in translational neuroscience, and brought me along to the 1978 CPDD meeting, where I heard Mark Gold talk about how Yale turned basic research into the clonidine treatment for opiate withdrawal. In all these ways and others, Ed had a significant impact on my career. I know that he had this sort of positive impact on many people."