Dennis Charney, MD

Chief of NIMH Mood & Anxiety Disorders Research Program

Dennis S. Charney is the Chief of the Mood and Anxiety Disorder Research Program and the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. This program is located in the NIMH intramural research division and is the nation's largest research group devoted to identifying the etiology of these disorders and discovering more effective treatment. Prior to coming to NIMH in September 2000 he was Professor Psychiatry and Deputy Chair of Academic and Scientific Affairs at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Charney is one of the nation's foremost investigators in the neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiiety disorders. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of neural circuits, neurochemistry and functional neuroanatomy of the regulation of mood and anxiety. In addition his research group is focused on the discovery of novel and more effective treatments. Dr. Charney has been a highly successful extramural NIMH and VA grantee and has extensive experience directing large multidisciplinary research teams. He was the Principal Investigator of the VA National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the NIMH Yale Mental Health Clinical Rsearch Center.

Dr. Charney has served on numerous national committees in the service of advancing our understanding of the causes and treatment of psychiatric disorders. He has been a member of the Food and Drug Administration Psychopharmacologic Drug Advisory Committee. Dr. Charney has chaired the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute of Mental Health and currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) and the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association (NDMDA). He is President of the council of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and is on the council of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Association for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD). Dr. Charney has published over 400 original papers and chapters. He has edited a major textbook, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, published by Oxford Press. Dr. Charney is the editor of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Sine 1992, Dr. Charney has been listed in every edition of the "Best Doctors in America." His work has been honored by numerous awards, including the Efron Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Anna Monika Foundation Award for Research in Affective Disorders, Edward J. Sacher Award from Columbia University, the Edward A. Strecker Award from Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania, the Gerald L. Klerman Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association, and the American Psychiatric Association Award for Research. In 2000, Dr. Charney was elected to the Institute of Medicine.