New perspectives in the epidemiology of schizophrenia

It was with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to contribute to the present symposium in honour of my friend Jules Angst. It gives me the opportunity to pay tribute to his outstanding scientific work. The topic of my presentation has been inspired by the genius loci. In his foreword to a proceedings volume entitled 'Die Entstehung der Schizophrenie' (The Origin of Schizophrenia), which he edited on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich in 1970, Jules Angst pointed out that two former heads of the 'Burgholzli', Eugen and Manfred Bleuler, who had held that office longest, had dedicated their life's work to schizophrenia, which had received its name from Eugen Bleuler. Jules Angst's most successful research field has been psychiatric epidemiology. I therefore thought it appropriate to talk about new perspectives in the epidemiology of schizophrenia.