sarah lisanby
Dr. Lisanby is an internationally recognized expert in the rational design of neuromodulation technologies. Her work is translational, spanning nonhuman primates, healthy humans, and clinical populations. JP Gibbons Endowed Professor with Tenure and former Department Chair of the Duke Department of Psychiatry, she founded and directed the Duke Brain Stimulation and Neurophysiology Division that encompasses interdisciplinary research labs spanning technology development, pre-clinical modeling, translational neuroscience, clinical trials, and clinical application. Prior to being recruited to Duke as Department Chair, Dr. Lisanby founded and directed the Columbia Division of Brain Stimulation, where she was Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Lisanby has been principal investigator on a series of NIH and DARPA funded studies on the development of novel neuromodulation technologies, including studies on the rational design of magnetic and electrical seizure therapies. Her team pioneered magnetic seizure therapy (MST) as a novel depression treatment from the stages of animal testing, first in human, and now international clinical trials. She led series of studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), MST, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and other devices. Dr. Lisanby published a series of studies that established the paradigm of fMRI-guided TMS during working memory training to improve working memory performance in healthy volunteers, and to remediate working memory deficits following sleep deprivation. This paradigm has been extended to mitigate the effects of age-related decline in working memory.
In October 2015, she took a leave of absence from Duke to serve as Director of Translational Research at NIMH, where she now oversees a research funding portfolio of approximately $400 million and helps set a national agenda for research on mental illness. Dr. Lisanby co-led and presently serves on the NIH BRAIN Initiative Team on large-scale recording and modulation devices. In addition to these extramural activities, Dr. Lisanby founded and directs the Noninvasive Neuromodulation Unit (NNU) in the Experimental Therapeutics Branch in the NIMH Intramural Research Program, creating an important bridge between the Institute’s extramural and intramural research efforts. The NNU specializes in the use of noninvasive neuromodulation tools to measure and manipulate neuroplasticity to improve human brain health.
A prolific author with over 250 scientific publications, she has also received national and international recognition, including a Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the Max Hamilton Memorial Prize of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum (CINP), the Gerald Klerman Award from the National Depression and Manic Depression Association (NDMDA), and the Eva King Killam Research Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Dr. Lisanby’s prodigious research life has been matched by extensive service to NIMH and beyond. She has been a member of the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors since 2013, and has chaired or been a member of a variety of NIH Study Sections since 2004. Dr. Lisanby served on the FDA Neurological Devices Advisory Panel, is on five editorial boards, and has held key leadership positions with numerous professional associations, including serving as President for the Association for Convulsive Therapy/International Society of Neurostimulation, and the International Society for Transcranial Stimulation, and Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force to Revise the Practice on Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Dr. Lisanby also has a strong record of mentoring, personally nurturing over 50 individuals in the past 10 years.
Dr. Lisanby received dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Psychology from Duke University, where she went on to receive an M.D. and complete a residency in Psychiatry, serving as Chief Resident. In 1995 Dr. Lisanby joined Columbia University for a postdoctoral fellowship and joined the faculty in 1998. She was named Director of the Division for Brain Stimulation and Neuromodulation at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in 2005, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University in 2007, before returning to her alma mater as Chair for the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University in 2010.
Financial relationships
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Attribution:SelfType of financial relationship:PatentIneligible company:TMS technology, no royalties, not licensedDate added:Date updated:09/22/2024
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Attribution:SelfType of financial relationship:There are no financial relationships to disclose.Ineligible company:equipment loan, MagstimDate added:Date updated:09/22/2024
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