Biology of Depression – From Novel Insights to Therpeutic Strategies

Professor Ma-Li Wong, Co-Director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics & Clinical Pharmacology, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, was trained in neurology at the University of S?o Paulo, Brazil and psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and at Yale University. She joined the National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD) in 1993 as Head of the Molecular Neuroendocrinology Unit, Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch. In 1999 she took up a professorship at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, later becoming Director of its Neuroendocrine Core, and has been Director of the General Clinical Research Center Core Laboratory since 2002. Her current research focuses on the genomics and genetics of antidepressant treatment. Professor Wong is Associate Editor of Molecular Psychiatry. Professor Julio Licinio, Co-Director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics & Clinical Pharmacology, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, was trained in medicine at the University of S?o Paulo, Brazil, endocrinology at the University of Chicago, and psychiatry at Cornell University and Yale University and joined the National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD) in 1993 as Head of the Clinical Research Unit, Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch. In 1999 he came to UCLA as Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Medicine/Endocrinology. He is Founding President of the International Society of Pharmacogenomics and one of the principal investigators in the NIH Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Research Network. His main research interests include the role of leptin in neuroendocrine-immune interactions and pharmacogenomics of antidepressants. Professor Licinio is Editor of The Pharmacogenomics Journal and Molecular Psychiatry.