Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD

Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD, currently holds the prestigious positions of SUNY Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology, the Lourie Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, and Associate Dean and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Science at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Abi-Dargham pursued her medical education in Beirut, Lebanon, at Saint Joseph’s University. In 1985, She relocated to the United States, completing her residency at the University of Tennessee, in Memphis, followed by a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Abi-Dargham joined the faculty at Yale University and later moved to Columbia University in 1996, where she spent twenty-two years of her career prior to her move to Stony Brook University in 2016. She maintains the title of Professor Emerita of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University.

With expertise in molecular imaging, pharmacology, schizophrenia, and addiction, Dr. Abi-Dargham secured funding from NIMH, NIDA, and NIAAA as well as various pharmaceutical companies and charitable foundations. At Stony Brook University, Dr. Abi-Dargham continues her own research in advancing our understanding of the neurobiology of severe mental illness. Her work centers on investigating molecular markers and their functional significance as measured with multi-modal imaging approaches in psychiatric disorders.  Additionally, she directs the Multi-Modal Translational Imaging Lab and oversees a multidisciplinary team with expertise in multiple neuroimaging modalities used in tandem to address important questions about the brain mechanisms of schizophrenia. Internationally recognized for her work, she is a leader in using molecular imaging of the human brain to study schizophrenia and its comorbidity with addiction. Collaborating extensively with preclinical scientists, she designed translational studies that attempt to inform human studies with basic research findings and vice versa.

Dr. Abi-Dargham serves as a Deputy Editor for Biological Psychiatry, she is Past President of the Brain Imaging Council for SNM, and Past President of ACNP. She is a recipient of the Lieber Award for Outstanding Schizophrenia Research, from the Brain and Behavior Foundation and a member of the National Academy of Medicine, currently serving as Chair of section 7 (Psychiatry and Neurology) on the membership Committee.