About the editors | translational psychiatry


About the editors | translational psychiatry

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF   JULIO LICINIO, MD, PHD, MBA, MS, UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES Julio Licinio, MD, PhD, MBA, MS, FRANZCP, FAAHMS, is State University of New York (SUNY)


Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Medicine, and Neuroscience & Physiology at SUNY Upstate Medical University (UMU). He was Senior Vice President for


Academic and Health Affairs, and Executive Dean, College of Medicine at SUNY UMU in 2017-2019. He is also Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at Flinders University in


Adelaide, Australia. Prior to joining Upstate in 2017, he was Deputy Director for Translational Research and Head, Mind-Brain Theme at the South Australian Health and Medical Research


Institute, and previously he was Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University. Dr. Licinio was Chair of Psychiatry at University of Miami


(2006-2009) and prior to that, he was at UCLA (1999-2006), where he was Center Director and Vice-Chair of Psychiatry. Dr. Licinio had clinical and research training in endocrinology and


psychiatry at University of Chicago and Cornell. He is recognized internationally as a leader in translational research in depression and obesity. He has had academic apointments for over 25


years at Yale, NIH, UCLA, University of Miami, SUNY, and in Australia, where he has had key leadership positions. He is also founding Editor of three Springer Nature journals, _Molecular


Psychiatry_, _Translational Psychiatry_, and _The Pharmacogenomics Journal_. He has most recently served as a member of the New York State Governor’s Suicide Prevention Task Force,


representing SUNY.  MANAGING EDITOR    DANIEL ROCHE, PHD, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE, UNITED STATES Daniel Roche is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of


Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. He received his B.A in Psychology from University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. in Neurobiology in 2012 from the University of Chicago. He both


completed his postdoctoral training and was faculty at UCLA in the departments of psychology and psychiatry. His lab is currently located at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in


Catonsville, MD. The research objectives of Dr. Roche’s lab are twofold. The first research focus is to use human laboratory models of addiction to identify the behavioral and biological


mechanisms that contribute to the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of SUD and AUD. The second is to leverage this knowledge into developing and testing novel pharmacological treatments


for addictive disorders. Dr. Roche’s lab combines behavioral pharmacology, neurocognitive testing, neuroimaging, and clinical trial approaches to achieve these objectives. His current work


is focused on the interplay between inflammation and the gut-brain axis in AUD and developing genetic biomarkers for PTSD. His research has been funded by NIDA, the California


Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, NIAAA, and the state of Maryland. He is currently an Associate Editor for Translational Psychiatry and the Journal of Dual Diagnosis. ASSOCIATE


EDITORS   AGORASTOS AGORASTOS, MD, MSC, PHD, DR. MED. HABIL., CCBT, ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI, GREECE Dr. Agorastos is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Aristotle


University of Thessaloniki and International Partner of the VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH) at the University of California, San Diego (USCD), La Jolla, USA. He


previously served as Assoc. Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Hamburg; Head of the Outpatient Psychiatric Services of the University Department of Psychiatry


and Psychotherapy in Hamburg; and Team Leader of the Psychoneuroimmunology and Psychoneurophysiology Research Group of the Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry in the Hamburg University


Medical Center. He received his MD at the Medical University of Vienna; completed his doctorate, clinical and psychotherapeutic training (Board Approval for CBT) and professorial thesis at


the University of Hamburg; his MSc in Affective Neuroscience at the Universities of Maastricht and Florence; his Postdoc Fellowship at the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research group


of the CESAMH at USCD; and his second PhD at the Maastricht University. Fields of clinical expertise include depression, stress- and trauma-related disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD, and


treatment-resistant/post-partum depression, while his current research focus centers in the neurobiology of stress and stress-related disorders with particular emphasis on


psychoneuroendocrinology, immunology and physiology of stress, PTSD and depression and their neuropsychological correlates, as well as on the circadian system and chronodisruption as vital


components of neuropsychiatric disease development. Dr. Agorastos has received a large number of international scholarships, awards, honors, and certifications, is an active member of >10


international professional societies, has served as an ad hoc reviewer for >30 international scientific journals, and currently serves as Section Editor, Associate Editor, Guest Editor


and Editorial Board Member for several international scientific journals. According to Expertscape (2020), Dr. Agorastos has been listed as Expert among the top 1% cited scientists of the


world in all four categories of his research focus: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Autonomic Nervous System, Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, and Circadian Rhythms.  REVATHY UTHAIAH


CHOTTEKALAPANDA, PHD, WEILL CORNELL MEDICINE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES Revathy Uthaiah Chottekalapanda is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry at


Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York. She obtained her postdoctoral training in The Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience and The Laboratory of Sensory


Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University, and PhD from the Department of Genetics at the University of Köln and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany. She


was a Junior Research Fellow at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. She earned her BS (Honors) in Biology from Bangalore University and MS (Honors) in


Microbiology and Molecular Biology from Mysore University, India. Dr. Chottekalapanda is a recipient of several awards: Royal Society of Chemistry Award for an essay on Antibiotic Resistance


(1994); Junior Research Fellowship from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (1998), India; International Graduate Program Doctoral Fellowship by the Deutsche


Forschungsgemeinschaft; Germany (1999-2004); Women & Science Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Rockefeller University (2006-2007); NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain &


Behavior Research Foundation (2016-2018), Trainee Professional Development Award from The Society of Neuroscience, USA (2021). Dr. Chottekalapanda serves in the editorial board of Molecular


Psychiatry and is an Associate Editor for Translational Psychiatry. Her research involves determining the role of glia-neuron signaling mechanisms in the regulation of emotional and


cognitive behaviors. GERARD CLARKE PHD, MSC, BSC, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND Gerard Clarke is Professor of Neurobehavioral Science in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral


Science and a Principal Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork. Gerard holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry, an MSc degree in Neuropharmacology (1999 and 2001;


both from NUI, Galway) and a PhD degree (2009) in Neurogastroenterology (Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Science, UCC). With over 240 publications and a H-Index of 89, he was


included in Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Group Highly Cited Researchers list for 6 consecutive years from 2019-2024. He has recently co-authored a book titled _Microbiota Brain Axis: A


Neuroscience Primer _which provides a framework for understanding microbial regulation of brain function and behavior. His research interests include the impact of the gut microbiome on


brain and behavior across the life span, microbial regulation of tryptophan metabolism and translational biomarkers of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders including depression and


irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Key achievements of his lab in the generation of knowledge around the microbiota - gut - brain axis include the demonstration that the gut microbiome


regulates the hippocampal serotonergic system in a sex-dependent manner, findings that paved the way for numerous lines of inquiry on the effects of the gut microbiome on neurodevelopment,


brain function, and behavior. His current approach is based on advancing frontier knowledge in microbiome research to yield potential new therapeutic targets for the effective treatment of


the central nervous system and gastrointestinal disorders. ZHAOQI DONG, PHD, CAPITAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, BEIJING, CHINA Dr. Zhaoqi Dong serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of


Neurobiology at Capital Medical University’s School of Basic Medical Sciences in China. He earned his PhD in Neurosciences from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. His


research is dedicated to elucidating the behavioral, neural circuit, and molecular foundations of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and


depression. Leveraging genetically engineered mouse models, Dr. Dong studies how susceptibility genes disrupt synaptic plasticity, neural circuit functionality, and the balance between


excitatory and inhibitory signaling, connecting these molecular changes to behavioral traits such as impaired social interaction, cognitive dysfunction, and sensory irregularities. His


discoveries have informed novel therapeutic strategies. Dr. Dong has authored over 30 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals, cementing his reputation as a young leader in


neuropsychopharmacology. His interdisciplinary approach bridges molecular biology and systems neuroscience to address unmet clinical demands. His work receives sustained funding from China’s


National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC), and his excellence has been acknowledged through honors like the Beijing Association for Science and Technology (BAST) Young Talent Lifting


Program and Capital Medical University’s Outstanding Young Scholar Award. Dr. Dong contributes as an Associate Editor for _Translational Psychiatry_ and a member of the Chinese


Pharmacological Society’s Young Committee on Neuropsychopharmacology. Committed to translational impact, he integrates research, mentorship, and editorial leadership to advance interventions


for social deficits and stress-related manifestations in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. CHUNG SUB KIM, PHD, MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA, AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY Dr. Chung Sub


Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the


University of Texas at Austin, where he trained under Dr. Daniel Johnston and investigated the role of HCN1 channels in the hippocampus. Following his graduate studies, he completed


postdoctoral training and served as a Research Associate under Dr. Johnston at UT Austin before joining Augusta University in 2020. Dr. Kim’s research focuses on elucidating the molecular


and cellular mechanisms underlying individual variability and sexual dimorphism in stress-related behavioral outcomes, particularly social avoidance. His laboratory employs multidisciplinary


approaches, including in vivo calcium imaging, electrophysiology, and genetic manipulations, to dissect the neural circuits and ion channel dynamics that govern resilience and


susceptibility to social stress. His work is currently supported by an NIH R01 award, and he is a two-time recipient of the NARSAD Young Investigator Grant Award from the Brain &


Behavior Research Foundation (2014 and 2017). In addition to his research, Dr. Kim actively contributes to scientific service. He serves as an Associate Editor for Translational Psychiatry,


a Review Editor for Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, and a reviewer for the American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. He also serves as Chair of the DNRM Seminar Search Committee


and has participated as an early-stage investigator and ad hoc reviewer for the NIH Study Section. LEAH MAYO, PHD, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CANADA Leah Mayo is the Parker Psychedelics


Research Chair, Lead of Novel Therapeutics, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She received a B.S. in


Neuroscience from the University of Michigan and PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Chicago in 2015. She completed her postdoctoral training and subsequently became faculty at the


Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience at Linköping University in Sweden, before relocating to Calgary in 2022. At the University of Calgary, she is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain


Institute and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education. Dr. Mayo’s team explores novel pharmacotherapeutic approaches to treat stress-related psychiatric disorders,


including substance use disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, with a particular focus on cannabinoid and psychedelic-based interventions. Her group takes a translational approach,


leveraging insights regarding stress mechanisms from preclinical animal models, validating them in healthy humans, and subsequently incorporating them into pharmacology-based clinical


trials. Dr. Mayo has received Early Career recognitions from the European Behavioral Pharmacology Society, the Society for Social Neuroscience, and the Society of Biological Psychiatry. Her


research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Swedish Research Council, the Brain & Behavior


Foundation, and others.  ALISON K. MERIKANGAS, MPH, PHD, CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA (CHOP) RESEARCH INSTITUTE, UNITED STATES Alison K. Merikangas, MPH, PhD, is a Senior Scientist


in the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Research Institute, and a member of the Lifespan Brain Institute, a


collaboration between Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania where she also has an appointment in the Department of Genetics. Dr. Merikangas earned an


MPH in Epidemiology from the George Washington University, a PhD in Neuropsychiatric Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetic epidemiology at


the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. The broad aim of her research is to identify the impact of genetic and environmental risk factors on neuropsychiatric disorders in


youth using the tools of genetic epidemiology. Her specific interests involve sex and developmental factors in the evolution of mental disorders, and patterns of comorbidity within and


between mental and medical conditions. Dr. Merikangas has more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and has presented at numerous national and international scientific meetings. She is a


Councilor of the American Psychopathological Association and has received awards from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and World Psychiatric Association Epidemiology and


Public Health Section, among others. SCOTT J. MOELLER, PHD, RENIASSANCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES Scott J. Moeller received his undergraduate degree from


Stony Brook University Honors College in 2005 and his PhD from the University of Michigan in 2010, both in Psychology. He then began postdoctoral training in addiction neuroimaging at


Brookhaven National Laboratory, finishing his training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2013. After holding an Assistant Professor position at Mount Sinai from 2013-2017, he


was recruited to the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University in 2017 for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position, where he also serves as Associate Vice Chair for


Clinical Research.   Dr. Moeller investigates the neurobiological bases of impaired cognitive and emotional functioning in human drug addiction. His earlier work was conducted primarily in


cocaine use disorder, but more recently he has begun studying opioid use disorder. Much of his research involves what can be termed “self-reflective” or “Type 2” cognition, referring to


self-awareness of one’s executive functioning (as distinct from the executive functioning itself). More specifically, he uses fMRI and other imaging tools to probe the brain circuits


underlying problems with metacognition (“thinking about thinking”) and clinical insight (awareness of illness severity and need for treatment), with the ultimate treatment goal to improve


self-awareness and therapeutic engagement among addicted individuals. Another research interest centers around improving our understanding of central and peripheral stress systems in


addiction and the role of stress as a trigger for relapse. Finally, he has started to link these more cognitive mechanisms to molecular mechanisms afforded by positron emission tomography


(PET) imaging, allowing him to connect these different system levels to uncover new therapeutic targets.   Dr. Moeller’s research has culminated in more than 60 peer-reviewed original


articles and reviews. For this work, he has received multiple grants as PI from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), including an F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship, a K01 Research


Scientist Development Award, and multiple R01 and R21 Research Project Grants. He is currently an Associate Editor for _Translational Psychiatry_ and _Frontiers in Psychiatry_ (Addictive


Disorders section), and he is on the Editorial Boards of _American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse_ and _Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology_. CHARLOTTE STEENBLOCK, PHD,


UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL CARL GUSTAV CARUS, GERMANY Dr. Charlotte Steenblock is a group leader at the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus at Technische


Universität Dresden in Germany. She studied chemistry and molecular biology at Aarhus University in Denmark. After completing her doctorate in 2004 at Aarhus University/Novozymes A/S on the


subject of allergy, Dr. Steenblock worked as a research assistant at the University Hospital Odense. She then moved to the Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital in Mainz in Germany before


coming to TU Dresden in 2009. Since 2016, she has been principal investigator at the University Hospital Dresden. Her current research focuses on the isolation and characterization of


adrenal stem cells. She investigates their role in stress and their use in regenerative therapy. In addition, Dr. Steenblock researches the connections between metabolic diseases and


infections. She has published more than 60 peer-reviewed original articles and reviews and her research is continuously supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and other foundation


grants. She serves as an Associate Editor for _Translational Psychiatry_, Section Editor for _Discover Endocrinology and Metabolism_, a member of the editorial boards of _Scientific


Reports_ and _Exploration of Endocrine and Metabolic Disease_, and as a Review Editor for _Frontiers in Endocrinology_. ANTONIO VERDEJO-GARCÍA, PHD, MSC, BPSYCH, SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL


SCIENCES & TURNER INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN AND MENTAL HEALTH, MONASH UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA  Antonio Verdejo-García is a Professor (Research) in the School of Psychological Sciences and the


Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) where he leads the Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Program. He is also an Australian National


Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Leadership Fellow, the Co-Chair of the Neuroscience Interest Group of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM), and the Chair of the


Research Translation stream of the Australian Eating Disorders Research and Translation Centre (AEDRTC). Antonio has a PhD in Psychology (University of Granada, 2006), which focused on the


neuropsychological repercussions of stimulant and opioid use disorders. He subsequently took on postdoctoral training in addiction neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, US),


the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) and the Hospital del Mar Institute (Barcelona, Spain). Antonio's research focuses on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underpinning


cognitive control and decision-making, and their implications for substance and behavioural addictions, uncontrolled eating and obesity. His current work focuses on clinical translation of


neurocognitive mechanistic research into novel neuroscience-informed interventions for people with addictive and eating related disorders via innovative clinical trials. Antonio has


published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and edited a book on Cognition and Addiction (Academic Press, 2020). LIJING XIN, PHD, ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL), SWITZERLAND


Lijing Xin is an Assistant Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a staff scientist at the Center for Biomedical Imaging. She obtained her PhD in physics from


EPFL and completed her postdoctoral training at the Centre for Psychiatric Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital. Her research focuses on developing advanced magnetic resonance


spectroscopy and imaging techniques to investigate brain function and the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases. She aims to identify imaging biomarkers for early diagnosis and


intervention, with a particular emphasis on brain energy metabolism and neurotransmitter balance. She has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, and her research is continuously


supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and other foundation grants. Recently, she was awarded a prestigious SNSF Consolidator Grant to study complex neurometabolic


pathways underlying brain networks and to identify potential non-invasive biomarkers for the early detection of psychosis. She currently serves as the Chair of the “MR in Psychiatry” Study


Group at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. She is also an Associate Editor of _Translational Psychiatry_ and a member of the editorial board of _Quantitative


Imaging in Medicine and Surgery_.