Dennis S. Charney
Dennis S. Charney is an American biological psychiatrist and researcher, with expertise in the neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. He is the author of "Neurobiology of Mental Illness", "The Physician's Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders" and "Molecular Biology for the Clinician", as well as the author of over 600 original papers and chapters. He is a Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and as of 2022 is Dean of the school. Biography. Personal  life. Charney is a grandfather and the father of several children. In 2014, his son Alex Charney became a practicing psychiatric resident at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Education. Charney graduated from medical school at Penn State in 1977 and completed his residency in Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. A fellowship in Biological Psychiatry was completed at the Connecticut Medical Health Center. Career. Charney became the Dean of Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2004, later becoming the Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, then succeeding Kenneth L. Davis as Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at  Mount Sinai in 2007. With Yale colleague John Krystal, Charney demonstrated that Ketamine is effective for treating depression. Ketamine’s use as a rapidly-acting anti-depressant is considered a breakthroughs treatment. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2000. Charney previously led the Mood and Anxiety Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health, and earlier was on the faculty in the department of psychiatry at Yale Medical School. Patents. He owns patents in dopamine and noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors in treatment of schizophrenia and in intranasal administration of ketamine to treat depression. In total, as of  2022, he holds a total of five issued patents and six pending. Awards and honors. Partial list: Litigation. On the morning August 29, 2016, Charney was shot and wounded by Hengjun Chao, as Charney left Lange’s Deli in Charney's hometown of Chappaqua, New York. Chao was a former Mount Sinai medical researcher who had been fired by Charney in 2010 for research fraud. Chao's trial began on June 5, 2017, and eight days later Chao was convicted of attempted second degree murder and two other charges in Westchester County Court in White Plains. He was sentenced to  28 years in prison. In April 2019, a lawsuit was filed against Dr. Charney, several other defendants, and the Mount Sinai Health System for sex and age discrimination at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine. The suit was filed by eight current and former employees, all but one women. In August 2019, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging further allegations. Books and publications. He has been named among the top 3 most highly cited authors of psychiatric research in the decade ending in 2000 by the Institute for Scientific Information. He has been  on the editorial board of 15 journals including Biological Psychiatry, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Journal of Affective Disorders, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, Journal of Psychopharmacology, Human Psychopharmacology, and Psychopharmacology Bulletin.