Martin M. Katz, Ph.D.

Dr. Katz received his A.B. degree in Chemistry at Brooklyn College and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Psychology and Physiology. From 1958 to 1968, he served in the National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) newly formed Branch on Psychopharmacology as Executive Secretary of its first Psychopharmacology Advisory Committee, then, in 1965, as Head of its Special Studies section. In 1968, he was appointed Chief of the Institute’s Clinical Research Branch. That program was charged with expanding research on the causes and treatment of schizophrenia and the affective disorders. It initiated national conferences, administered a national research grants program, and developed Collaborative Programs on the Psychobiology of Depression, laying the groundwork for the new DSM and large scale testing of the new biochemical theories of the genesis of the disorders.

The Biology and Clinical Collaborative Programs, created by Dr. Katz and Branch Staff (1970-1978), were responsible for the training of many young investigators, and provided needed methodology for expanding research in these fields. The Clinical Aspect of the Program is still, forty years later, in operation under an NIMH grant. In 1984, he joined the Psychiatry faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in N.Y.C. as Professor and established the first Division of Psychology and Laboratory of Psychopathology at the College. Since 1996, he has been Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he has conducted grant-supported research on the “Biological aspects of depression” and the neurobehavioral mechanisms of action of antidepressant drugs.

Dr. Katz was consultant during 1970-1982 for the Mental Health Division at World Health Organization, Geneva on the development of their research programs on schizophrenia and depression, initially in his role as monitor of the program at the NIMH. He was co-principal investigator for the US centers in the WHO international “Determinants of Outcome of Severe Mental Disorders” in 1981-1988. He was a fellow at the East-West Center “Culture and Mental Health Program for Asia and the Pacific” in 1967-1968.  He received The Administrator’s Achievement Award from NIMH (1979), is a former Vice-President and Life Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and was a member of the first Editorial board for Neuropsychopharmacology, in 1982.

Dr. Katz has authored or co-edited eight books, four on the psychobiology, psychology and measurement of depression and one on the history of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). He has authored more than 120 publications in this field, focusing more recently on the componential structure of the depressive disorder and the initial behavioral actions of pharmacologically different antidepressants. He has developed several methods for the quantitative analysis of the behavior of schizophrenic and depressed patients, including the Katz Adjustment Scales (KAS), the Multivantaged Assessment of Depressive Disorders (MVAM), and more recently, the Video Interview Behavior Evaluation Scales (VIBES).

Martin M. Katz
September 24, 2015