Events

Precision Psychiatry for PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder: From Biomarkers to Resilience

Biomedical Engineering
Lecture / Panel
 
Open to the Public
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Zoom

Speaker:

Charles Marmar, M.D.

Peter H. Schub Professor and Chair, Dept. of Psychiatry

Director, Center for Precision Medicine in AUD and PTSD

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Abstract:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are among the most prevalent and debilitating psychiatric conditions affecting military personnel, veterans, first responders, and civilians exposed to trauma. In this presentation, Dr. Marmar will share recent advances in precision psychiatry that aim to transform diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in trauma-related mental health disorders. Drawing from his extensive research, he will discuss multi-omic biomarker discovery (including genomic, meta-bolomic, and proteomic approaches) for diagnostic screening and treatment prediction in PTSD. This includes efforts to identify pre-deployment biological signatures predictive of PTSD development in military personnel and to classify clinical subtypes of PTSD using endophenotypic markers. Novel speech-based biomarkers, brain circuit mapping, and computational models of clinical trajectories will also be presented, illustrating how these tools can enhance clinical decision-making and therapeutic personalization. Furthermore, work on targeting comorbid AUD and PTSD and optimizing pharmacologic treatment with extended-release Gabapentin will be discussed. By integrating biomarker science with compassionate clinical care, Dr. Marmar’s work exemplifies the promise of precision medicine to address complex psychiatric disorders and restore hope for recovery.

Dr. Marmar is a distinguished psychiatrist and academic leader renowned for his expertise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and precision psychiatry.​ He earned his MD from the Univ. of Manitoba, and completed psychiatry residencies at the University of Toronto and the Univ. of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He went on to serve as Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry at UCSF and held the position of Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health and Director of the PTSD Research Program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. In 2009, he joined the NYU School of Medicine as the Chair of the Dept. of Psychiatry. His work has been recognized with numerous honors and awards. For example, in 2018, he was named Fellow of the Military Service Initiative for the George W. Bush Institute, advising President Bush on trauma care for veterans. In 2024, he was appointed to National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism. Throughout his career, Dr. Marmar has been funded by major NIH- and DoD-research initiatives, including a P01-Center grant and multiple R01 grants.

 

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