Dr. Duman is Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology and Director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at the Yale University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Medical School in Neuropharmacology and joined the Yale faculty in 1988. He became tenured in 1997 and was named the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry in 2000. Dr. Duman has received several prestigious awards for his work on depression including the Anna-Monika Prize (2001), the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize (2002), the Janssen Prize for Research in Psychopharmacology (2003), a NIMH MERIT Award (2005), a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award (2005), and the College of International Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) Basic Research Award (2006). He is author of over 250 original articles, reviews and chapters and has given over 150 invited lectures.

Studies from Dr. Duman’s laboratory have contributed to the characterization of the molecular and cellular actions of antidepressants and stress, providing the basis for a neurotrophic hypothesis of depression. This hypothesis is based on work from Dr. Duman’s laboratory demonstrating that chronic antidepressant treatment increases the expression of neurotrophic factors, and increases the proliferation of new neurons in the adult brain. Up-regulation of these neurotrophic factors and neurogenesis counteract the atrophy and cell loss that is caused by stress and that is thought to underlie, in part, the pathophysiology of depression. Dr. Duman’s work has demonstrated that increased neurotrophic factor expression and neurogenesis contribute to the actions of antidepressant treatment. These findings represent ground-breaking advances in our understanding of the effects of antidepressants and provide a framework for the development of novel therapeutic agents.