Building upon decades of work, the field of psychiatry stands at the precipice of a new era as advancements in neuroscience and population health are being successfully applied to the treatment of mental health disorders. From personalized brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression to the use of technology to bring care to historically underserved groups, a wave of innovations is revolutionizing how mental health care is delivered in the Bay Area and around the globe.

A panel of clinical and research experts from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will discuss their efforts to transform our understanding and treatment of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, eating disorders, autism and substance use disorders.

About the Speakers

Christopher Bartley, M.D., Ph.D., is an adjunct instructor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hannah H. Grey Fellow. He explores the connection between the human immune system and mental illness; specifically, how malfunctioning immune systems can create antibodies that attack the brain and lead to mental health conditions.

Andrew Moses Lee, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant adjunct professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences whose research centers on studying brain networks and neuromodulation. His most recent work involved the development of personalized treatment for mental health conditions using MRI scanning to detect the regions of the brain impacted by brain stimulation.

Fumi Mitsuishi, M.D., M.S., is a health sciences associate clinical professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the director of Citywide Case Management, a division of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Department of Psychiatry that supports San Francisco’s highest-risk mentally ill adults. She specializes in the science of systems change and uses her understanding of interpersonal and group dynamics and motivation to develop data-driven interventions to minimize stigma, homelessness and suffering in those facing mental health challenges.

Andrew Krystal, M.D., M.S., is the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Distinguished Professor and vice chair for research in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a professor in residence in the UCSF Department of Neurology. He is also the director of the UCSF Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders and the UCSF Interventional Psychiatry Program. He is a pioneer in the application of computational modeling to the study of biomarker development using EEG in patients with depression and sleep disorders and the application of biomarkers in treatment development clinical trials. He also has extensive experience in clinical and research personalization of therapies for the treatment of patients with mood disorders.

Katherine Scangos, M.D., Ph.D., is a health sciences assistant clinical professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her research work focuses on dissecting the circuits underlying mood and cognition to further our understanding and treatment of mood disorders at the level of neural circuits, leading to potentially earlier diagnosis, personalized treatment regimens, and better patient outcomes.

NOTES

Part of The Commonwealth Club’s series on mental health, dedicated in memory of Nancy Friend Pritzker, with support from the John Pritzker Family Fund.