James B. Potash

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James B. Potash is an American psychiatrist, researcher, and academic leader. He is currently the Henry Phipps Professor and Director (Chair) of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Potash graduated from Yale College in 1984 with a degree in English. After serving in the Peace Corps in Senegal, [1] [2] he pursued a career in medicine. He earned a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, focusing on epidemiology and international health, and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1993. [1] [3]

After completing an internship in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Potash became a resident and later chief resident in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital. [3] He joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins in 1998. [3]

Research and Public Engagement

Potash is a renowned researcher in the field of psychiatric genetics, focusing on the genetic and epigenetic basis of mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. [1] [2] [4] His prolific research output includes over 215 publications, [2] and his work has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health for two decades. [1]

In addition to his academic publications, Potash has engaged in public education about depression through his role as co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Program. He has authored a series of columns for ABC News discussing topics such as postpartum depression [5] and distinguishing depression from sadness. [6] In these columns, he provides clear explanations of the signs, symptoms, and treatments for depression to help the public better understand this common but often misunderstood condition.

Potash's other notable research contributions include:

Career

Prior to his current role, Potash served as chair and department executive officer of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine from 2011-2017. [1] [3] There, he strengthened research on psychiatric illness mechanisms and fostered collaborations between investigators, clinicians, and educators. [1]

As the director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Hopkins, Potash oversaw the creation of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in 2019, the first such center in the United States and the largest in the world at the time of its founding, with $17 million in philanthropy. The Center does leading work in the use of psilocybin to treat psychiatric disorders like major depressive disorder. [7] [8] He has also helped establish four new Precision Medicine Centers of Excellence (PMCoE), aimed at identifying disease sub-types and targeting treatments—for Alzheimer's disease, psychosis, mood disorders, and schizoaffective disorders. [9]

Potash has facilitated the creation of the Johns Hopkins Personalized Care in Psychiatry program in Baltimore and new psychiatric services at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC, and Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. [10] [11] [12] In addition, he established a new track-based system within the Johns Hopkins psychiatric residency training program to allow trainees to grow in expertise and as leaders. [13]

In addition to his research and leadership roles, Potash maintains an active clinical practice treating patients with depression and bipolar disorder. [1] [2] He has also held leadership positions in major professional organizations, including the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics, the American Psychopathological Association, the National Network of Depression Centers, and the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry. [2] [4]

Related Research Articles

Bipolar I disorder is a type of bipolar spectrum disorder characterized by the occurrence of at least one manic episode, with or without mixed or psychotic features. Most people also, at other times, have one or more depressive episodes. Typically, these manic episodes can last at least 7 days for most of each day to the extent that the individual may need medical attention, while the depressive episodes last at least 2 weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mood disorder</span> Mental disorder affecting the mood of an individual, over a long period of time

A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where the main underlying characteristic is a disturbance in the person's mood. The classification is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Depression (mood)</span> State of low mood and aversion to activity

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Biological psychiatry or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics, epigenetics and physiology to investigate the biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Biopsychiatry is the branch of medicine which deals with the study of the biological function of the nervous system in mental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience</span> Research institution in London, England

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Jeffrey H. Meyer is a scientist and professor working with mood and anxiety disorders using neuroimaging at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He is currently the head of the Neurochemical Imaging Program in Mood and Anxiety Disorders in the Brain Health Imaging Centre at the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute and is working as a Senior Scientist in the General and Health Systems Psychiatry Division at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He has also been awarded with the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Neurochemistry of Major Depression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postpartum psychosis</span> Rare psychiatric emergency beginning suddenly in the first two weeks after childbirth

Postpartum psychosis (PPP), also known as puerperal psychosis or peripartum psychosis, involves the abrupt onset of psychotic symptoms shortly following childbirth, typically within two weeks of delivery but less than 4 weeks postpartum. PPP is a condition currently represented under "Brief Psychotic Disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Volume V (DSM-V). Symptoms may include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or abnormal motor behavior. Other symptoms frequently associated with PPP include confusion, disorganized thought, severe difficulty sleeping, variations of mood disorders, as well as cognitive features such as consciousness that comes and goes or disorientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis S. Charney</span> American medical researcher

Dennis S. Charney is an American biological psychiatrist and researcher, with expertise in the neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. He is the author of Neurobiology of Mental Illness, The Physician's Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders and Molecular Biology for the Clinician, as well as the author of over 600 original papers and chapters. In 2022, he was listed #49 on Research.com's "Top Medicine Scientists in the United States," with an h-index of 218 with 173,960 citations across 887 publications. Charney is known for demonstrating that ketamine is effective for treating depression. Ketamine's use as a rapidly-acting anti-depressant is recognized as a breakthrough treatment in mental illness.

Peter C. Whybrow is an English psychiatrist and award-winning author whose primary research focus has been on understanding the metabolic role of thyroid hormones in the adult brain and how to apply this knowledge to the treatment of mood disorder, especially bipolar disorder. He is Judson Braun Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Boyce (psychiatrist)</span> Australian psychiatrist

Philip Manley Boyce is an Australian psychiatrist. He is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney and an Emeritus Consultant in Psychiatry at Westmead Hospital. He was a professor of psychiatry and head of discipline of psychiatry at the University of Sydney, and head of Perinatal Psychiatry Clinical Research Unit at Westmead Hospital. He has published more than 350 articles, and frequently contributes to psychiatric textbooks. He served as associate editor of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. He has a long clinical and research interest in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychosomatic disorders, and perinatal psychiatry. He has also taken leadership roles in the profession as president of the RANZCP and the international Marcé society, in the development of clinical practice guidelines, and in the development of a competency-based training program for the college.

Augustus John Rush is an internationally renowned psychiatrist. He is a professor emeritus in Duke-NUS Medical School at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He has authored and edited more than 10 books, and over 600 scientific journal articles that are largely focused on the diagnosis and treatment of depressive and bipolar disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lori L. Altshuler</span> American psychiatrist (1957–2015)

Lori Altshuler was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and held the Julia S. Gouw Endowed Chair for Mood Disorders. Altshuler was the Director of the UCLA Mood Disorders Research Program and the UCLA Women's Life Center, each being part of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.

Hilary Patricia Blumberg is a medical doctor and the inaugural John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. She is also a professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, and works in the Child Study Center at Yale where she has been a faculty member since 1998. She attended Harvard University as an undergraduate, and completed medical school at Cornell University Medical College (1990). She completed her medical internship and psychiatry residency at Cornell University Medical College/New York Hospital, and her neuroimaging fellowship training at Cornell University, Weill Medical College. She has received the 2006 National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) and the Gerald L. Klerman Award for Clinical Research. Blumberg has authored a number of scientific articles that focus on bipolar disorder, neuroimaging, and effects of specific genetic variations, developmental trajectories and structure-function relationships.

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Heather Clare Whalley is a Scottish scientist. She is a Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health neuroimaging at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, and is an affiliate member of the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Her main focus of research is on the mechanisms underlying the development of major psychiatric disorders using the latest genomic and neuroimaging approaches.

Francis J. McMahon is an American psychiatric geneticist and Chief of the Human Genetics Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. He is also a visiting professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a former president of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. His research focuses on the genetic basis of mood and anxiety disorders, as well as the role of genetics in both positive and negative responses to antidepressant drugs. He is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and he received the Colvin Mood Disorders Prize from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in 2016.

Mauricio Tohen is a Mexican American research psychiatrist, Distinguished Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico. Tohen's research has focused on the epidemiology, outcome, and treatment of bipolar and psychotic disorders, and is especially known for innovating the design of clinical trials and the criteria to determine outcome in such diseases. Tohen has edited several books on his specialties. His social awareness has been noted in the promotion of programs to improve mental health care in areas such as substance abuse, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Lerer</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "James B. Potash". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "James B. Potash, MD, MPH". Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. March 29, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "James Potash Named Henry Phipps Professor and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences". Inside Hopkins Medicine. June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Taubes, Gary (February 2011). "James Potash on the Path from Gene to Patient Care in Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins". ScienceWatch. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Answers to Your Questions About Postpartum Depression". ABC News. December 18, 2006. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Depression ... or Just the Blues?". ABC News. April 6, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Johns Hopkins Launches Center for Psychedelic Research". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  8. ↑ Davis, Alan K.; Barrett, Frederick S.; May, Darrick G.; Cosimano, Mary P.; Sepeda, Nathan D.; Johnson, Matthew W.; Finan, Patrick H.; Griffiths, Roland R. (January 1, 2021). "Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA Psychiatry. 78 (5): 481–489. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3285. PMC   7643046 . Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Centers of Excellence". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Psychiatry Services at Sibley Memorial Hospital". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Behavioral Health Services at Suburban Hospital". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Johns Hopkins Personalized Care in Psychiatry". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  13. ↑ "New Psychiatry Residency Tracks: More Mentorship and Career Development". Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
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