The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health."
George F. Koob is a Professor and former Chair of the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at the Scripps Research Institute and Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. In 2014 he became the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Alan Leshner is an American psychologist who served as director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Mental Health, has held senior positions at the National Science Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on the National Science Board.
Thomas Roland Insel is an American neuroscientist, psychiatrist, entrepreneur, and author who led the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 2002 until November 2015. Prior to becoming Director of NIMH, he was the founding Director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for research on oxytocin and vasopressin, two peptide hormones implicated in complex social behaviors, such as parental care and attachment. He announced on Sept. 15, 2015, that he was resigning as the director of the NIMH to join the Life Science division of Google X. On May 8, 2017, CNBC reported that he had left Verily Life Sciences. Insel is a Co-founder with Richard Klausner and Paul Dagum of a digital mental health company named "Mindstrong," a Bay-area startup. He has also co-founded Humanest Care, NeuraWell Therapeutics, and MindSite News and is a member of the scientific advisory board for Compass Pathways, a company that is developing the psychedelic drug psilocybin to treat depression and other mental health disorders. His book, Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health was published by Penguin Random House in February, 2022.
Susan Swedo is a researcher in the field of pediatrics and neuropsychiatry. Beginning in 1998, she was Chief of the Pediatrics & Developmental Neuroscience Branch at the US National Institute of Mental Health. In 1994, Swedo was lead author on a paper describing pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS), a controversial hypothesis proposing a link between Group A streptococcal infection in children and some rapid-onset cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome. Swedo retired from the NIH in 2019, and serves on the PANDAS Physician Network.
Lana Skirboll is the former director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Science Policy.
Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, is professor of clinical neuropsychology at the department of psychiatry and Medical Research Council (MRC)/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge. She is also an honorary clinical psychologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. She has an international reputation in the fields of cognitive psychopharmacology, neuroethics, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and neuroimaging.
William T. Carpenter is an American psychiatrist, a pioneer in the fields of psychiatry and pharmacology who served as an expert witness in the John W. Hinckley trial for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. His primary professional interest is in severe mental illness, especially schizophrenia, to the prevention and treatment of which he has made significant contributions in psychopathology, assessment methodology, testing of new treatments, and research ethics.
Michael J. Kuhar, is an American neuroscientist, author, and Candler Professor of Neuropharmacology at The Emory National Primate Research Center of Emory University. He is a Georgia Research Alliance eminent scholar, and a senior fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory. He was previously a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and branchchief at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Yasmin Hurd is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai. Hurd holds appointments as faculty of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and is globally recognized for her translational research on the underlying neurobiology of substance use disorders and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Hurd's research on the transgenerational effects of early cannabis exposure on the developing brain and behavior and on the therapeutic properties of cannabidiol has garnered substantial media attention. In 2017, Dr. Hurd was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and, in 2022, Dr. Hurd was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Hydroxynorketamine (HNK), or 6-hydroxynorketamine, is a minor metabolite of the anesthetic, dissociative, and antidepressant drug ketamine. It is formed by hydroxylation of the intermediate norketamine, another metabolite of ketamine. As of late 2019, (2R,6R)-HNK is in clinical trials for the treatment of depression.
Nancy Rutledge Zahniser was an American pharmacologist, best known for her work involving the mechanism of dopaminergic pathways and chemical modifications of them. Although born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Zahniser grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio and subsequently enrolled at the College of Wooster, where she obtained a degree in chemistry. After completing her degree, Zahniser spent some time in India where she met her first husband Mark Zahniser; she later returned to the United States to attend the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, where she earned her PhD in pharmacology in 1977. Zahniser went on to complete her post-doctoral training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center's Department of Pharmacology and then became a part of the faculty there. In 2007, she became associate dean for research education. She played a role in advancing the careers of many post-doctoral students in her lab. In addition to her work as a professor, Zahniser was also a member of several boards, committees, review panels, and professional societies related to pharmacology, neuroscience, and addiction. She led several national research meetings from 1995-2002.
Judith L. Rapoport is an American psychiatrist. She is the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.
Phil Skolnick is an American neuroscientist and pharmacologist most widely known for his work on the psychopharmacology of depression and anxiety, as well as on addiction medicine. Author of more than 500 published papers, Skolnick's most notable accomplishments include elucidating the role of the NMDA system in depression therapeutics, demonstrating the existence of endogenous benzodiazepine receptor ligands, and spearheading the National Institute on Drug Abuse's partnership to develop a naloxone atomizer for reversal of acute opioid overdose. Skolnick's work also laid the foundation for the development of ketamine as a rapid-acting antidepressant.
Marina Elizabeth Wolf is an American neuroscientist and Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University. Previously she served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience in the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. She has been a pioneer in studying the role of neuronal plasticity in drug addiction. Her laboratory is particularly interested in understanding why individuals recovering from substance use disorder remain vulnerable to drug craving and relapse even after long periods of abstinence.
Myriam Gorospe is a Spanish scientist, the head of the RNA Regulation Section at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) since 1998. Her group studies the influence of RNA in cellular processes related to aging.
Lauren Y. Atlas is an American psychologist researching how expectations and learning influence pain and emotion, and how these factors influence clinical outcomes. She is a clinical investigator at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and serves as the chief of the section on affective neuroscience and pain.
Eva King Killam was a research pharmacologist who studied the activity of drugs on the brain and behavior, developing animal models for epilepsy and opiate dependence.
Amy Hauck Newman is an American medicinal chemist who is the scientific director of the intramural research program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She researches the design, synthesis, and evaluation of central nervous system (CNS) active agents as potential treatment medications for substance use disorders, with an emphasis on selective ligands for the dopaminergic system.
