I am a board-certified psychiatrist with extensive training and over 30 years of experience in clinical research on the medical, endocrine and metabolic, and vascular manifestations of neuropsychiatric disorders, including mood disorders (such as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Bipolar Disorders), trauma-related conditions such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and dementias, including Alzheimer's disease. I have published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals on: 1) the involvement of stress-responsive neurohormonal symptoms in the pathophysiology of depressive illness and biomarkers of the activity of these systems as measured in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); 2) factors associated with the Metabolic Syndrome that may in part underlie the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with MDD, including hypercortisolism, hyperinsulinism, sympathetic activation; 3) increased blood levels of pro-inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the acute phase proteins C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA); and neuropsychiatric, vascular, and metabolomic studies of Alzheimer-type dementias (AD).
My current research is focused on the application of metabolomics to the study of AD and related dementias, particularly with regard to elucidating metabolic and vascular mechanisms underlying the increased AD risk associated with the occurrence of conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, physical inactivity, and dyslipidemia, particularly during mid-life. These represent potentially modifiable risk factors for AD, mitigation of which could delay or prevent the onset of AD during later years. As a founding member of the Alzheimer's Disease Metabolomics Consortium (ADMC), established by Rima Kaddurah-Daouk Ph.D., I am participating in projects funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the NIH are part of larger consortia of NIA-funded projects including AMP-AD and M2OVE AD.
I have participated as a site investigator in multiple investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical treatment trials of antidepressive agents, including investigational compounds. I was also a site investigator for the pivotal trial of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for treatment-resistant depression.
I have experience in the Pharma industry, having served as a Director in the Department of Clinical Translational Medicine at Wyeth Research in Collegeville, PA. My primary role was in the Neuroscience therapeutic area; I was also involved collaboratively in other therapeutic areas, including metabolic and inflammatory diseases.
Greater Philadelphia Area
Associate Professor of Psychiatry at HUP and VA
Research
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania