 Husseini Manji |
Husseini K. Manji, MD is Global Head, Neuroscience, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. He was previously Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology & Experimental Therapeutics, NIMH, and director of the NIH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, the largest program of its kind in the world. He is also a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. Dr. Manji received his B.S. (Biochemistry) and M.D. from the University of British Columbia. Following residency training, he completed fellowship training at the NIMH and obtained extensive additional training in cellular and molecular biology at the NIDDK. The major focus of his research has been the investigation of disease- and treatment-induced changes in gene and protein networks that regulate synaptic and neural plasticity in neuropsychiatric disorders. His work has helped to conceptualize these illnesses as genetically-influenced disorders of synaptic and neural plasticity, and has led to the investigation of novel therapeutics for refractory patients. |
He has also been actively involved in the development of biomarkers to help refine these multifactoral diseases into mechanism-based subcategories to develop targeted therapeutics. Dr. Manji is a previous recipient of numerous research awards, including the NIMH Director's Career Award for Significant Scientific Achievement, the A. E. Bennett Award for Neuropsychiatric Research, the Ziskind-Somerfeld Award for Neuropsychiatric Research, the NARSAD Mood Disorders Prize, the Mogens Schou Distinguished Research Award, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)'s Joel Elkes award for distinguished research, the Canadian Association of Professors in Psychiatry Award, the Henry and Page Laughlin Distinguished Teacher Award, the Brown University School of Medicine Distinguished Researcher Award, the DBSA Klerman Senior Distinguished Researcher Award, and the NIMH award for excellence in clinical care and research.
In addition to his neuroscience research, and biomarker and innovative therapeutics development endeavors, Dr. Manji has also been actively involved in medical and neuroscience education undertakings, and has served as a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NMBE) Behavioral Science Test Committee, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholars Program Selection and Advisory Committee, and numerous national curriculum committees. He has developed and co-directed the NIH Foundation for the Advanced Education in the Sciences Graduate Course in the Neurobiology of Mental Illness, and has received both the NIMH Mentor of the year and NIMH Supervisor of the year awards. He has published extensively on the molecular and cellular neurobiology of severe neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of novel therapeutics. He has been editor of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: the next generation of progress, deputy editor of Biological Psychiatry, associate editor of the journal Bipolar Disorders, and sits on the editorial board of numerous journals. Dr. Manji has been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM), is a Councilor of the ACNP, chaired the ACNP's Task Force on New Medication Development, and is president of the Society of Biological Psychiatry.