John H. Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and professor of psychiatry, of neuroscience, and of psychology, and chair of the Yale Department of Psychiatry, has been selected to receive the 2026 Connecticut Medal of Technology.
Krystal and representatives from the other honoree, the RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC), will accept their medals at a ceremony to be arranged. They will be recognized at the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering's Annual Dinner on May 19.
Krystal is being honored “for the discovery of the rapid antidepressant actions of ketamine, the most important clinical advance in psychiatry in the current era, leading to the development of esketamine, the first mechanistically novel FDA-approved antidepressant in over 50 years.”
RTRC is being honored “for developing era-defining breakthroughs in commercial aviation and defense for over 95 years, during which time its scientists and engineers have pushed the limits of technology and science by taking on its customers’ toughest challenges and redefining how we connect and protect our world.”
Krystal is a leading expert on the neurobiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study the neurobiology and treatment of disorders, including alcohol use disorder, depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia.
He and his collaborators identified mechanisms in patients underlying these antidepressant effects: enhanced glutamate release (13C-MRS), restoration of cortical functional connectivity deficits (fMRI), restoration of synaptic density (PET), and novel mechanisms for enhancing or sustaining these effects via mTORC1 inhibition and glycine-site NMDA-R modulation.
He also studied the neurobiology and treatment of alcohol use disorder, PTSD, and schizophrenia. He identified the first biological mechanism in PTSD with his colleagues in the early 1990s.
Yale Department of Psychiatry residents Henry Kietzman, MD, PhD, left, and Will Li, MD, PhD, right, have been named first and second prize winners, respectively, of the 2026 Lustman Award for Psychiatric Research.
The award was established in honor of the late Professor Seymour L. Lustman and is funded by the Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund. It is given each year to physician-scientists who show excellence in research during their training.
Kietzman and Li, both third-year residents in the Neuroscience Research Training Program, will present their award-winning research at Grand Rounds on Friday, May 29, 2026.
The 2026 Lustman Award recipients are:
First Place: Henry Kietzman, MD, PhD: “Promoting Prosociality: How Cooperation Shapes the Rodent Brain"
Second Place: Will Li, MD, PhD: “Ketamine’s Neurotoxic Potential: Bridging Preclinical Evidence and Clinical Reality”
Clinicians, residents, researchers, and advocates came together over two days in April to make the seventh annual Women’s Mental Health Conference a success.
The conference, held April 17 and 18, 2026, featured keynote speakers Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD, who opened the conference with the Grand Rounds address, "Women's Health and Gender Equity Amid Changing Tides," and Juliana Hauser, PhD, who gave the address on the second day titled, "Holistic Sexuality in Perimenopause and Menopause: Mental Health, Hormones, and the Conversations Clinicians Need to Be Having."
More than 45 talks were held across the two days, virtually and in person, covering an array of topics including PMDD, eating disorders, postpartum psychosis, trauma-informed care, grief, and more. Organizers were especially thrilled to welcome 100 in-person attendees from across the country.
The planning committee for the 2027 conference welcomes new volunteers to help organize the conference. For information or to volunteer email [email protected].
Tolu Akinade, MD, PhD, and Henry Kietzman, MD, PhD, third-year residents, were recently awarded Travel Fellowship Awards from the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP), a professional organization focused on research in mental health.
The awards helped covered their costs to attend the 2026 SOBP conference, held April 30-May 2, 2026, in New York. Both presented posters about their research projects.
Join the Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids at its May webinar on Tuesday, May 19, at 3 pm. Visit the center's website to register.
Dr. Steven E. Hyman, right, director of the Program in Brain Health at the Broad Institute, was awarded the 2026 Yale Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Advocacy Award this morning at The Anlyan Center on the @yaleschoolofmed campus. Presenting the award was Dr. John Krystal, left, department chair.
Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience and professor of psychiatry, and in the Child Study Center and of radiology and biomedical imaging, has been elected to serve a second term as Councilor of The International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP).
The term of service is four years, through 2030.
CINP Councilors are leaders in neuropsychopharmacology from throughout the world. They contribute their knowledge to improve the standards of CINP and neuropsychopharmacology.
Established in 1957, CINP promotes research advances and new treatments, and educates clinicians worldwide.
Blumberg is director of the Mood Disorders Research Program at Yale School of Medicine. Her research focus is on understanding the brain circuitry differences that underlie mood disorders across the lifespan, with a focus on bipolar disorder and on suicide prevention.
Robert Pietrzak, PhD, MPH, professor of psychiatry and of public health (social and behavioral sciences), has been selected to receive the 2026 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Robert S. Laufer Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement.
The award will be presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Annual Meeting in San Antonio in September.
The Robert S. Laufer Memorial Award honors an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to research in traumatic stress. It is named in memory of Robert S. Laufer, PhD, a sociologist whose pioneering work on Vietnam combat veterans helped shape early understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Laufer’s landmark study, Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of Veterans and Their Peers (1981), documented the broad psychological, social, and economic toll of combat service. Laufer and Elizabeth Brett, PhD, lecturer in psychiatry at Yale, were among the first to conduct rigorous epidemiologic studies of PTSD in Vietnam-era veterans, contributing foundational work on the psychological consequences of combat exposure and the classification of the disorder that helped lay the groundwork for subsequent generations of research.
Recipients of the award are recognized for scientific achievements that advance knowledge in traumatic stress, with emphasis on originality, significance, and impact on the field.
Pietrzak was nominated by John H. Krystal, MD, chair of the Department of Psychiatry.
Pietrzak is director of the Translational Psychiatric Epidemiology Laboratory in the Clinical Neurosciences Division of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His research focuses on the psychiatric epidemiology of trauma-related disorders, with an emphasis on military veterans, resilience, and recovery.
He leads the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (NHRVS), a nationally representative longitudinal study of U.S. veterans that began in 2011. The NHRVS has followed thousands of veterans across multiple groups and has generated more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.
Ebony Dix, MD, left, assistant professor of psychiatry, and Victoria (Tia) Kozar, MD, right, second-year resident in the Yale Psychiatry Residency Program, were recognized with awards at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP).
Dix was named AAGP Educator of the Year at the annual meeting, held April 16-20 in Arlington, VA. The award recognizes extraordinary efforts, innovations, and accomplishments that directly impact the quality of geriatric psychiatry education.
Kozar was honored with the AAGP Member-in-Training Research Award, presented to the most promising member-in-training. Honored trainees demonstrate a compassionate, humanistic approach to the care of older adults and excel in educational initiatives.
Dix and Kozar were nominated for the awards.
Dix’s training is in geriatric and interventional psychiatry. She is an attending psychiatrist and medical director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Unit at Yale New Haven Hospital’s Saint Raphael Campus (SRC). She is also an attending psychiatrist for the Yale Interventional Psychiatric Service, providing ECT consultations and treatments at SRC.
In addition to leading a multidisciplinary team and providing clinical care to patients, she is a dedicated clinician educator, providing a teaching service for medical students, PA students, psychiatry residents, and geriatric psychiatry fellows.”
Kozar works to bring integrated intergenerational programming to Yale and is the Geriatric Psychiatry Interest Group lead. She is involved with the Graduate Medical Education Committee, working on curriculum developments.
AAGP works to advance mental health care for aging adults.
The Yale School of Medicine 3D Tumor Lab, led by Frank Buono, PhD, a research scientist in psychiatry, has been selected to participate in the U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program.
I-Corps is an immersive, entrepreneurial training program that helps researchers bring their inventions to market. The experiential training program lasts seven weeks and prepares scientists and engineers to move their projects toward commercialization.
The 3D Tumor Lab was selected for its AI-powered precision imaging that transforms MRI into reliable, reproducible 3D tumor measurements for clinical care.
The lab’s mission is to enhance the accessibility and precision of 3D tumor growth analysis. Its researchers aim to advance from manual segmentation to an automated system that generates 3D models of tumors with the click of a button, ultimately offering patients improved chances for recovery and survival.
Other members of the 3D Tumor Lab team who will participate in the program are Katie Howard, MS, postgraduate assistant, and Rithvik Ghankot, MS, research assistant.
Join the Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids for its next webinar on Tuesday, April 28. Visit the center's website for more details and to register.
Cannabis research is more than a scientific pursuit—it’s a pathway to better health, informed policy, and improved quality of life. As cannabis use becomes more widespread, understanding its risks, benefits, and therapeutic potential is critical.
Through rigorous research, scientists are uncovering how cannabis can help manage conditions like chronic pain, anxiety, and neurological disorders, while also identifying potential harms and guiding safe use. This knowledge empowers patients, supports clinicians, and informs responsible regulation.
Investing in cannabis research means investing in evidence, transparency, and lives changed for the better.
Visit the Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids to learn more.
