Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program Team

Master
Heading

Faculty

Terms

Item Term
Sanjay J Mathew, M.D.

Item Definition

Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Mathew is the director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program.  He is also vice chair for research in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a staff physician at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center. His areas of expertise include neuropsychopharmacology and translational research in treatment-resistant depression, anxiety and PTSD. 

Item Term
Alan Swann, M.D.

Item Definition

Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Alan Swann does clinical and translational research focusing on behavior, neurophysiology, and biomarkers related to action control and behavioral sensitization. The goal of this work is to develop new diagnostic measures and drug therapies for refractory bipolar disorders, suicidal behavior, alcoholism, and PTSD.

Item Term
Asim Shah, M.D.

Item Definition

Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Family and Community Medicine

Dr. Asim Shah is the chief of psychiatry at Harris Health and Ben Taub Hospital and executive vice chair for the Menninger Department of Psychiatry. His interests include treatment resistant depression, mood disorders, psychosis and behavior health integration. He oversees several Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials at Harris Health. 

Item Term
Marijn Lijffijt, Ph.D.

Item Definition

Assistant Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Marijin Lijffijt investigates neuropharmacological mechanisms of, and novel treatments targets for difficult-to-treat psychiatric and neurological disorders, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, severe suicidality, Gulf War Illness, and misophonia. 
 

Item Term
Brittany O’Brien, Ph.D.

Item Definition

Assistant Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Brittany O’Brien is interested in the development of novel and innovative therapies for patients with chronic, treatment-resistant anxiety, and mood disorders. Her current research projects include a multi-site collaboration with private community clinics to explore real-world outcomes and patient-specific factors that influence ketamine treatment response. 
 

Item Term
Shirali Patel M.D.

Item Definition

Assistant Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Shirali Patel is a research psychiatrist for several clinical trials in Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment-resistant depression. In addition, she oversees the rTMS treatment program at the Baylor Psychiatry Clinic.

Item Term
Ali Ashgar-Ali, M.D.

Item Definition

Associate Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Ali Ashgar-Ali is the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship director who is a co-investigator on a randomized trial comparing ketamine and ECT. He has an educational grant through the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Affairs for the development of suicide assessment and management training.

Heading

Affiliated Faculty

Terms

Item Term
Ramiro Salas, Ph.D.

Item Definition

Associate Professor

Dr. Ramiro Salas uses functional brain imaging to study the neuronal circuits that are involved in the processing of reward and disappointment, and how these circuits are changed in addiction, depression, and other conditions. His lab is also developing gene expression data-mining techniques to obtain anatomical hypotheses of disease from genetic screenings.

Item Term
Allison Wells, M.D., MBA, FASA

Item Definition

Voluntary Faculty, BCM Department of Anesthesiology

In addition to her voluntary faculty appointment, Dr. Allison Wells is a partner at Northwest Anesthesiology and Pain and medical director of Lone Star Infusion. Her research interests include ketamine for depression, anxiety, and PTSD and the combination of holistic and anesthetic treatment approaches for mood disorders. 
 

Item Term
Chadi Abdallah, M.D.

Item Definition

Associate Professor

Dr. Chadi Abdallah has expertise in antidepressant clinical trials, translational clinical neuroscience, multimodal neuroimaging, and the development of rapid-acting antidepressants for the treatment of depression, PTSD, and other stress-related psychiatric disorders. His research program focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying trauma, depression, and chronic stress, with emphasis on the role of synaptic connectivity and neuroenergetics.  
 

Heading

Post Doctoral Fellows, Staff and Trainees

Terms

Item Term
Tabish Iqbal, M.B.B.S/M.D

Item Definition

Research Operations Lead and Program Manager

In addition to being the program manager, Tabish Iqbal is an academic M.D. and ECFMG-certified international medical graduate. He oversees the regulatory, clinical, and financial components of the program. He is particularly interested in NMDA receptor antagonists for treatment of depression. His objective as a scientist/researcher is to understand the statistical and practical significance implications to different treatment responses.

Item Term
Nicholas Murphy

Item Definition

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Nicholas Murphy is interested in neuromodulation and translational neurophysiological biomarkers of mood disorders. His current research projects include an NIH funded study of prefrontal cortical excitability and its relationship to rTMS response in patients with depression.
 

Item Term
Sidra Iqbal

Item Definition

Senior Research Coordinator

Sidra Iqbal is responsible for coordinating the lab’s Ketamine and ECT trials.   

Item Term
Bylinda Vo-Le

Item Definition

Research Coordinator II

Bylinda Vo-Le is responsible for coordinating the lab’s Gulf War Illness and American Foundation Suicide Prevention projects.

Item Term
Divya Gupta

Item Definition

Research Coordinator I

Divya Gupta is responsible for coordinating the R33 Xen1101, Sage and Merck projects.

Item Term
Dania Amarneh

Item Definition

Research Coordinator I

Dania Amarneh is responsible for coordinating the R33 Xen1101, Sage, and Merck projects.