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PROFESSOR | Neuroscience PROFESSOR | Psychiatry
Biography
Schahram Akbarian studied medicine and conducted his thesis work on the central representation of the primate vestibular system at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany. He is a board certified psychiatrist and molecular neuroscientist who trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge and the University of California at Irvine. In 2002, he joined the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester where he established a research program in psychiatric epigenetics and served as the Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute. Presently, he heads the Division of Psychiatric Epigenomics in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is a former recipient of the Klerman award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Judith Silver Memorial award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Outstanding resident award of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Eva King Killam Research Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Akbarian has been a principal investigator on National Institutes of Health-funded research projects and grants since 2001and published close to 100 articles in scientific journals and book chapters. He is a member of professional societies such as the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and presently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF, formerly NARSAD), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). He serves on Editorial Boards of various journals in the field, including Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Schizophrenia Bulletin and European Neuropsychopharmacology. Visit Dr. Akbarian's http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/akbarian/ Laboratory of Epigenetic Regulation of the Human Brain and http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/nestler/contecenter Mount Sinai Conte Center on Epigenetic Mechanisms of Depression for more information. Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas Biophysics and Systems Pharmacology [BSP], Genetics and Genomic Sciences [GGS], Neuroscience [NEU] Education Internship, General Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center Residency, Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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3D genetic architecture of schizophrenia risk across three neuronal subtypes
Powell, S. K., Liao, W., Ghorbani, S., Rigat, R., O’Shea, C., Kammourh, S., Elahi, R., Infante, D., Deans, P. M., Le, D. J., Agarwal, P., Qiang Seow, W., Balafkan, N., Wang, K. C., Akbarian, S. & Brennand, K. J., Apr 2026, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 31, 4, p. 2216-2231 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Functional implications of polygenic risk for schizophrenia in human neurons
Michael Deans, P. J., Retallick-Townsley, K. G., Li, A., Seah, C., Johnson, J., Garcia Gonzalez, J., Cao, E., Schrode, N., Yu, A., Cartwright, S., Voloudakis, G., Zhang, W., Wang, M., Fullard, J. F., Girdhar, K., Stahl, E., Akbarian, S., Zhang, B., Roussos, P. & O’Reilly, P. & 2 others, , Dec 2026, In: Nature Communications. 17, 1, 1355.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Scopus citations -
Postpartum Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Review of Neurobiology and Expert Consensus Statement on Classification
Bergink, V., Akbarian, S., Byatt, N., Chandra, P. S., Cirino, N., Dazzan, P., De Witte, L., Di Florio, A., Dolman, C., Jones, I., Kamperman, A., Mahjani, B., Meltzer-Brody, S., Munk-Olsen, T., Nagle-Yang, S., Osborne, L. M., Rasgon, N., Robakis, T., Thippeswamy, H. & Vigod, S. N. & 1 others, , 1 May 2026, In: Biological Psychiatry. 99, 9, p. 740-747 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open Access5 Scopus citations -
R-loop landscapes in the developing human brain are linked to neural differentiation and cell type-specific transcription
LaMarca, E. A., Saito, A., Plaza-Jennings, A., Espeso-Gil, S., Hellmich, A., Fernando, M. B., Javidfar, B., Liao, W., Estill, M., Townsley, K., Florio, A., Ethridge, J. E., Do, C., Tycko, B., Shen, L., Kamiya, A., Tsankova, N. M., Brennand, K. J. & Akbarian, S., Dec 2026, In: Translational Psychiatry. 16, 1, 250.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Altered tRNA expression profile associated with codon-specific proteomic changes in the suicide brain
Blaze, J., Chen, S., Heissel, S., Alwaseem, H., Landinez Macias, M. P., Peter, C., Molina, H., Storkebaum, E., Turecki, G., Goodarzi, H. & Akbarian, S., Jul 2025, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 30, 7, p. 2871-2879 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access2 Scopus citations
Press/Media
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New Findings from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the Area of Schizophrenia Reported (Downregulated transcription in chromosomal domains of midbrain dopamine neurons linked to schizophrenia)
Akbarian, S., Wang, M., Roussos, P., Girdhar, K. & Hoffman, G.
20/04/26
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Study Findings from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Provide New Insights into Bipolar Disorders (Postpartum Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Review of Neurobiology and Expert Consensus Statement on classification)
Akbarian, S., De Witte, L., Bergink, V. & Mahjani, B.
7/11/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media