John Krystal, MD

Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research; Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Psychology; Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University; and Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Yale-New Haven Hospital, co-PI of the Yale CTSA and co-director of the YCCI

Photo by Robert A. Lisak

Dr. Krystal, who has been at Yale for ~40 years, is the ideal candidate to serve as the permanent co-PI, joining Dr. Smith to lead the Yale program. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Yale University 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. Notably, he led the 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. Dr. Krystal is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. Currently, he is a 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 (IF=11.982). He is past president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP). This month, he received the Edward H. Aherns, Jr. Distinguished Investigator Award from the Association for Clinical and Translational Science at the “Translational Science 2019” meetings. Further Dr. Krystal has been actively engaged in the CTSA since the first application to the NIH in 2006. In both his role as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University and Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Dr Krystal played an active role in the planning of the initial applications as well as the renewals in 2011 and 2015. Dr. Krystal has co-chaired the YCCI Science and Safety Committee since its inception. He has also served as a primary mentor for several KL2 scholars; a member of the Society of Mentors supporting all the educational initiatives; reviewer for many of the CTSA pilots and scholar applications; user of several resources; and a member of the Executive Committee, as well as the Yale Medicine internal clinical chairs group who aid in YCCI strategic planning on an annual basis.