Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program Team

Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Sanjay J. Mathew, M.D. is the Marjorie Bintliff Johnson and Raleigh White Johnson, Jr. Vice Chair for Research and Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. He is also a Staff Physician at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center and Senior Scientist at The Menninger Clinic. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Baylor College of Medicine, and trained in psychiatry and mood/anxiety disorders research at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He previously served as faculty at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he co-directed the Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program. His research program focuses on experimental therapeutics and pathophysiology related to treatment-resistant mood and anxiety disorders and PTSD, with a particular focus on developing rapid-acting and novel pharmacotherapies. 
 
Dr. Mathew has authored or co-authored over 180 manuscripts and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of several journals. In 2016, he co-edited the book “Ketamine for Treatment-Resistant Depression.” He serves on the Boards of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (where he is President-Elect), and is an elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Mathew performs clinical consultations for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety and has been awarded “Best Doctor” honors annually since 2011.   

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. This work aims to develop new diagnostic measures and drug therapies for refractory bipolar disorders, suicidal behavior, alcoholism and PTSD. 

Associate Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Brittany O’Brien is a licensed clinical psychologist who joined the department’s faculty in 2018. Her research focuses on novel and cutting-edge interventions for mood and trauma-related disorders, particularly ketamine and psilocybin. She has served as a coinvestigator on federal, state, and industry-sponsored studies investigating the efficacy of these treatments for patients with difficult-to-treat depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Dr. O’Brien is also active in the department’s education and training mission. She founded the pre-doctoral Mood and Trauma-Related Disorders BCM Psychology Internship track. She also supervises psychology interns, postdoctoral fellows, and residents conducting psychotherapy with patients in the department’s community-based outpatient clinic. 

Assistant Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 

Dr. Amanda Tamman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. She aspires to improve understanding the neural ‘imprints’ left by stress and trauma to best target treatment of psychiatric disorders. Amanda’s work has two aims. First, she focuses on identifying the interaction between fMRI, neurophysiological, genetic, and behavioral factors in understanding trauma-related psychiatric disorders. Second, she aims to use this knowledge to develop and test novel treatments for stress-related disorders and potential mechanisms of their effects. This work includes endeavors to examine the effect of psychedelic agents on genetic markers of aging and inflammation, and the effects of psychedelic agents on relational factors such as interpersonal skills in work funded by the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and AIM Youth Mental Health. 

Clinical Research Psychologist, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center 

The focus of Dr. Averill’s work is on studying and supporting novel, rapid-acting interventions with potential to save lives. She is a expert in the psychoneurobiology of chronic stress pathology – namely posttraumatic stress, suicidality and rapid-acting interventions. Her research focuses on the fine-grained understanding of mechanisms underlying psychedelic medicines, the effects of chronic stress and trauma, and treatment response. She has co-authored multiple recent manuscripts reporting positive outcomes of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment among Special Operations Forces Veterans and has published widely on studies of ketamine for stress- and trauma-related concerns 

Dr. Averill is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine’s Menninger Department of Behavioral Sciences, Clinical Research Psychologist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, maintains a faculty appointment at Yale School of Medicine and the National Center for PTSD and is a clinician and innovation expert advisor at NPSYT, PLLC. 

Assistant Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuropsychiatry

Dr. Murphy's research uses neurophysiological measures of brain activity to identify patterns of information that can be exploited to design biomarkers of mood, trauma, and suicide disorders. His program objective is to create scalable biomarkers that can be easily applied in everyday clinical settings to guide clinician judgement, and to reduce the cost-burden of failed treatments for patients. 

Associate Professor

Dr. Ramiro Salas uses functional brain imaging to study the neuronal circuits involved in processing 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.

Voluntary Faculty, BCM Department of Anesthesiology

Dr. Allison Wells is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist. In addition to her voluntary faculty appointment, Dr. Wells has served in a variety of research, entrepreneurial, medical director, partner leadership, advocacy, and community service roles, including her appointment to the executive board of Legacy Health with roles including treasurer and committee chair of the quality and clinical governance committee. Her research interests include ketamine for depression, anxiety, and PTSD and the combination of holistic and targeted treatment approaches for mood disorders.

Associate Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 

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. He employs a broad range of pharmacological challenges, neuroimaging modalities, and network neuroscience approaches to study the neurobiology of depression and other psychiatric disorders and the mechanisms underlying treatment response and resistance. His research program focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying trauma, depression, and chronic stress, with emphasis on the role of synaptic connectivity. 

Associate Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 

Dr. Michelle Patriquin, Ph.D., ABPP is the Director of Research and a Senior and Board Certified (ABPP) Psychologist at The Menninger Clinic, as well as an Associate Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research interests are in the subjective and objective precursors of mental illness and how to translate these findings into actionable clinical interventions through the invention of new technologies. Dr. Patriquin has authored 185 articles and presentations on her research, co-edited a psychology textbook, and is the editor of several journal special issues. Her research is funded by federal and foundation grants, and she has received numerous awards for her research and mentorship. Dr. Patriquin completed her undergraduate and graduate education at Virginia Tech: B.S. in Psychology, B.S. in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, & Technology Management, M.S. in Clinical Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. 

Research Coordinator 

Julia coordinates the Neumora KOASTAL-1, Engrail ENCALM, and Abbott DBS projects. She graduated from Rice University in 2023 with a B.A. in Cognitive Sciences and minors in Jewish Studies and Politics, Law, and Social Thought. Her research interests include trauma and its impact on mood and anxiety disorders, as well as the interplay between trauma and personality disorders. She hopes to pursue her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the future.   

Research Coordinator 

Haley coordinates the AMPA PET and KEG projects. She graduated from Texas A&M University in 2024 with a B.S. In Psychology. Her research interests include breakthrough therapies and novel drug research for depression and anxiety disorders. She hopes to pursue her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the future.  

Research Coordinator

Krisha coordinates the KEG and ASAT projects. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2024 with a B.A. with Honors in Psychology and minors in Computer Science and Data Science. Her research interests include the cognitive and neural mechanisms of mood disorders and PTSD, emphasizing their interplay with memory and emotion. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. 

Ryann Tudor has recently graduated Rice University with her B.A. in Psychology. Her interests include neurophysiological biomarkers of mood disorders, and how these translate to the development of treatments for depression, PTSD and other conditions. 

He is interested in novel major depressive disorder treatments, ranging from Ketamine to Electroconvulsive therapy, and how they can be further developed to meet the individual needs of a patient. 

Research Coordinator 

Andreas is a medical student at Baylor College of Medicine. He graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Statistics, and previously served as a research coordinator in the lab from 2022-2023. 

Gia Kim is currently studying at Rice University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Data Science. Her research interests include innovative therapeutic approaches to depression and anxiety, as well as studying substance use disorders, with a focus on anxiolytic medications, dependence mechanisms, withdrawal risks, and tolerance development. She is planning on pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.