Dan Iosifescu, MD

As the son of an engineer and a literature professor, I inherited a passion for a rigorous, number-based understanding of reality and a deep fascination with complex human experiences. This led me to pursue medicine and psychiatry—and a quest to apply innovative neuroscientific methods to the search for novel treatments for severe mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder.

I am a professor of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. I am also director of clinical research at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. My research has led to the validation of novel treatments for patients who have severe mood and anxiety disorders, including pharmacological treatments such as ketamine and other glutamatergic drugs, and devices such as novel forms of magnetic stimulation. I also use neuroimaging, neurophysiology, and neurocognitive tests to evaluate structural, biochemical, and functional brain abnormalities in people who have mood disorders, and my research explores how these brain abnormalities may impact clinical treatment.

I have significant clinical and research expertise in the service of patients who have treatment-resistant forms of depression and bipolar disorder. However, my knowledge of treatments and neuroscience would be insufficient if not matched by a passionate desire to understand people’s unique history and suffering, and to develop mutual trust with each person I am treating. I aim not only to alleviate severe pain and suffering, but also to restore my patients’ hope in their futures, and their sense of purpose and effectiveness.

In addition to having been awarded several research prizes, I am honored to have been recognized by my peers as one of “America’s Top Doctors” in all editions of “Top Doctors” since 2005, and as one of Castle Connolly’s “Top Doctors” for psychiatry in the New York Metro Area since 2015.