Dr. Christopher Pittenger

Biography

Chris Pittenger earned his MD and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, under the guidance of Nobel Prize recipient Eric Kandel, and completed his residency training in psychiatry at Yale University in 2003. He joined the Yale faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2007 and is now the Elizabeth Mears House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry, and a Professor in the Child Study Center and Department of Psychology. Dr. Pittenger's research interests encompass the investigation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome, with a focus on the cortico-basal ganglia circuitry involved in their pathophysiology. He is the co-founder of the Yale Program for Psychedelic Science, aimed at understanding how compounds like psilocybin and LSD can inform new treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the Yale OCD Research Clinic, where he explores novel glutamate-modulating medications for OCD. Dr. Pittenger's work has gained recognition through numerous prestigious awards and substantial funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and other organizations, reflecting his significant contributions to the fields of psychiatry and neurobiology.

Research Interests