Brian Smith, MD
Brian Smith, MD, deputy dean for scientific affairs (clinical departments) at the Yale School of Medicine, professor and chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences (Biomedical Engineering), assumed the formal directorship of YCCI on January 1, 2019. Unofficially, however, he took on the leadership after becoming deputy dean. The transition to center director comes after more than 20 years in a number of leadership roles at the School of Medicine and within the health system. He has major administrative responsibility for the school’s research enterprise across the T1–T4 spectrum, as well as educational responsibilities along the scientific pipeline from Laboratory Medicine’s STEM high school student program through undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate training for MDs, PhDs, and MD/PhDs. He is the initiator and longstanding PI of Laboratory Medicine’s postdoctoral T32 training program in Immunohematology. Continuously funded for over 35 years with nearly 30 years as an NIH R01 PI, Smith has personally mentored over 40 MD, MD/PhD, and PhD trainees who currently hold tenure-track positions at Harvard, Yale, the University of Washington, Rutgers, Duke, Cornell, Dartmouth, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and many other institutions.
Further, Smith’s own research has spanned the basic and clinical fields. He has established in vitro model systems and has also conducted clinical trials. In sum, he has extensive experience in training researchers; in the establishment of core research facilities; and in investigation of the interface between inflammation and coagulation in cardiovascular disease.
Smith completed his BA in chemistry at Princeton University, where he audited a course in biological engineering that inspired him go to medical school. In fact, his first foray into research took place at that time, when he got involved in a community survey on hypertension. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. “During medical school, I was amazed and humbled by the privilege doctors are given by patients in allowing us to enter their lives,” Smith said. “It is an awesome responsibility — and part of that is to make sure that patients are getting the best possible care, which means that where appropriate, they should be given the opportunity to consider research options, as well as standard treatments.”
Smith completed his residency and fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where he began to focus on bone marrow transplantation. In 1989, Smith arrived at the Yale School of Medicine as assistant professor of laboratory medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and professor in 1996. He was appointed chair of the department in 2006 after serving as vice chair for several years. Smith is boardcertified in Pathology/Hematopathology and in Internal Medicine/ Hematology-Oncology. Smith practices in the areas of Hematology and Hematopathology consultation. He has received a number of awards for his work, including being named a Stohlman Scholar of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and receiving the Evans Award for Outstanding Contributions to Laboratory Medicine from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS).
Smith plays a significant role within Yale Medicine, the school’s clinical practice, and the health system. His department is responsible for the clinical laboratories at all the major facilities as well as several satellite facilities, and has patient service centers located throughout the Greater New Haven area. Performing over eight million tests per year at its various sites, the department provides high-technology reference testing (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and cellular assays) to other institutions throughout New England and as far away as Puerto Rico.
John Krystal, MD
John Krystal, MD, is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research; professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, and psychology; chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine; and chief of psychiatry and behavioral health at Yale New Haven Hospital. He joins Smith as the co-PI of the Yale CTSA. Krystal, who has been at Yale for approximately 40 years, is the ideal candidate to serve as the permanent co-PI, joining Smith to lead the Yale program. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, the Yale School of Medicine, and the Yale psychiatry residency training program. He has published extensively on the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia, alcoholism, PTSD, and depression, and made the notable discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in humans. He is the director of the NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism and the Clinical Neuroscience Division of the VA National Center for PTSD. Krystal is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. He is also a current member of the NIMH National Mental Health Advisory Council; co‑director of the Neuroscience Forum of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; and editor of Biological Psychiatry (impact factor=11.982). He is past president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP).
Like Smith, Krystal plays a significant role within Yale Medicine, the school’s clinical practice, and the health system, as his department is responsible for mental health care and services at all the major facilities as well as several satellite facilities.
“When I arrived at Yale in 1980 as a medical student, I never imagined I would have the opportunity to lead and help shape mental health at the institution, let alone our clinical translational research vision and mission,” Krystal said. “I was honored that Bob asked me to help with our first CTSA applications in 2006. I remember how proud Brian and I, along with all our faculty, were when we heard the news we would be funded as part of the first cohort.” In both his positions as chair of the Department of Psychiatry and chief of psychiatry and behavioral health at Yale New Haven Hospital, Krystal played an active role in the planning of the initial application, as well as the renewals in 2011 and 2016. He has also served as a primary mentor for several KL2 scholars; a member of the Society of Mentors supporting all educational initiatives; a reviewer of many of the CTSA pilots and scholar applications; a user of several resources; and a member of the internal clinical chairs group that assists in YCCI strategic planning on an annual basis.