Biographical Sketch 

Jay D. Amsterdam

        Jay D. Amsterdam, MD is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and former Director of the Depression Research Unit at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Dr. Amsterdam is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in American Civilization. He received his MD degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and postgraduate training in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia, PA) and The Maudsley Hospital, Institute of Psychiatry (University of London, UK). He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in affective disorders at the University of Pennsylvania and a NIMH-funded post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychopharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1980, Associate Professor in 1986, and full Professor in 1992.

        Dr. Amsterdam’s research interests have included studies in psychopharmacology, new antidepressant drug development, molecular brain imaging, psychoneuroendocrinology, psychoimmunovirology, and integrative botanical psychopharmacology of mood disorders. More recently, he has applied his clinical and research experience to the study of ethical issues in modern psychiatry research.

        He has authored or co-authored more than 265 original articles, reviews and chapters, and has edited five textbooks on the psychopharmacology of mood disorders. Dr. Amsterdam has received awards acknowledging his research work that include the Marie H. Eldredge Award (American Psychiatric Association), the Curt P. Richter Prize (International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology), and the Distinguished Life Fellow commendation of the American Psychiatric Association.