Professor Dr. John Krystal

Biography

John Krystal, MD, is a leading expert in the neurobiology of treatments for psychiatric disorders, linking psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study alcohol use disorder, depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia. He is known for his pivotal discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients. At Yale, he chairs the Department of Psychiatry and serves as Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Health System. He co-leads the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation and directs the NIAAA Center for Translational Neuroscience of Alcohol, overseeing the Clinical Neuroscience Division at the VA National Center for PTSD. He serves as an editor for Biological Psychiatry and has held prominent roles in various scientific organizations, co-founding Freedom Biosciences to address gaps in current antidepressant therapies. Additionally, he has chaired and served in advisory roles on several national committees and councils, shaping the future of mental health research and policy.

Research Interests

Experience