Faculty News
Dr. Marmar
Appointed
New Chairman
of Psychiatry
charles marmar, MD, has been
appointed the new chairman of the
Department of Psychiatry. A leading expert on
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
Dr. Marmar joins NYU Langone Medical
Center from the University of California,
San Francisco (UCSF), where he was professor and vice chair of psychiatry, and the San
Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he was associate chief of staff for mental
health and director of the center’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research Program.
Dr. Marmar’s wide-ranging research on PTSD has included investigations into the link between the disorder and changes in brain
function and anatomy, identification of risk factors, and studies of prevalence in different populations, including combat veterans,
law enforcement officers, rape survivors, political refugees, and earthquake victims. He was one of the principal investigators for the
National Vietnam Veterans’ Readjustment Study, the first systematic exploration of PTSD among Vietnam veterans. He is currently
principal investigator on over a half-dozen PTSD-related research projects, including a recent $3.5 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Defense to develop biomarkers of PTSD for use in diagnosing and treating troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition to his many academic publications, Dr. Marmar has contributed to numerous textbooks on the psychiatric effects of
traumatic stress and also maintains a clinical practice focused on trauma and grief counseling.
After receiving his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, Dr. Marmar completed
his residency training in psychiatry and neuropharmacology at the University of Toronto, and in traumatic stress and grief at UCSF,
where he joined the faculty in 1978. He is past president of both the Society for Psychotherapy Research and the International Society
for Traumatic Stress Studies.
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a recent $10 million grant from the
National Institutes of Mental Health
established a new center devoted to
schizophrenia research and treatment
at NYU Langone Medical Center and its
affiliate, the Nathan S. Kline Institute for
Psychiatric Research. The Silvio O. Conte
Center for Schizophrenia Research,
named after the late U.S. congressman, a
champion of mental health research, will
be headed by Daniel C. Javitt, MD, PhD,
professor of psychiatry. It will investigate
a promising approach to treating this
surprisingly common and misunderstood
mental illness, which affects one in every
100 people over the course of their lives.
Dr. Javitt has spent much of his
career investigating the link between
a brain transmitter called glutamate
and schizophrenia. “For many years,
overproduction of the neurotransmitter
dopamine was thought to be the main
cause of schizophrenia,” explains Dr. Javitt.
“But excess dopamine doesn’t account
for schizophrenia’s cognitive symptoms,
such as the inability to decipher vocal
tones.” Instead, his research suggests
that schizophrenia is caused primarily
by dysfunction in one of the receptors,
or binding sites, on neurons to which the
neurotransmitter glutamate binds.
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This type of receptor is called N-methylD-aspartate (NMDA), and it plays a critical
role in memory, learning, and the ability
of the brain to adapt to changes in the
environment. Several drugs of abuse,
such as PCP (angel dust) and ketamine
(special K), cause symptoms that resemble
schizophrenia by blocking NMDA
receptors, suggesting that these important
receptors may be functioning abnormally
in individuals with schizophrenia.
Dr. Javitt and his colleagues in the new
center will be investigating how NMDA
receptors influence brain function as well
as evaluating medications that boost
the receptors’ activity. “Several naturally
occurring amino acids—glycine, D-serine,
and sarcosine—improve symptoms
significantly in large doses,” he notes,
adding that these compounds raise NMDA
receptor production. Also promising are
glycine-transport inhibitors, which block
removal of glycine from the brain, allowing
glycine levels to build up without need
for supplements. (Dr. Javitt holds several
patents related to the use of D-serine,
along with other compounds used to treat
schizophrenia.)
“Current schizophrenia medications
have troublesome mental and physical
side effects, so compliance is often very
poor,” says Dr. Javitt. “The hope is that
these newer treatments can control or
prevent cases, so that current medications
won’t be needed.”
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NYU Physician
fall 2009
P h oto g r a p h b y j o h n a b b ot t ( b ot to m )
$10 Million Grant to Dr. Javitt Establishes
Silvio O. Conte Center for Schizophrenia Research
Faculty News
Dr. Lowenstein Dr. Keefe Appointed Chairman of
Receives NYU’s Obstetrics and Gynecology
Distinguished
Teaching Award
P HOTOGRA P H S BY JOHN ABBOTT ( TO P R I GHT ) AN D JO S H UA BR I GHT ( BOTTOM )
david l. keefe, MD, has been appointed
Jerome Lowenstein, MD, professor of
medicine (nephrology), has been named
a recipient of NYU’s 2008–2009 Distinguished Teaching Award. A graduate
of both NYU (’53) and NYU School of
Medicine (’57), Dr. Lowenstein is famous
for converting his research and clinical
insights into innovative approaches to
teaching medical students and young physicians—a process he called “rewarding,
exciting, and intellectually stimulating.”
A founding editor of the Bellevue Literary
Press, he is credited with transforming
the teaching of cell biology through his
book Acid and Basics: A Guide to Understanding Acid-Base
Disorders, published in 1993.
Dr. Lowenstein
“personifies
the humanistic
physician,”
wrote Dean and
CEO Robert I.
Grossman, MD,
in recommending him for the
award, “and has
inspired an entire generation of medical
students, house staff, and colleagues to
follow in his footsteps to become caring
healthcare professionals.”
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chairman of the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology. Dr. Keefe brings a unique blend
of skills to his new position, including extensive
experience in both clinical care and basic science,
as well as a record of innovative medical leadership. He joins NYU Langone Medical Center
after serving as the James M. Ingram Professor
and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
University of South Florida, where he helped implement well-received procedural improvements
in the department’s clinical ob-gyn program at
Tampa General Hospital.
A physician researcher, Dr. Keefe has devoted
his laboratory research to stem cell and embryo
biology, establishing an impressive publishing
record of more than 150 papers and abstracts.
Before joining the University of South Florida,
Dr. Keefe headed the Division of Reproductive
Medicine and Infertility at Brown University,
where his research team investigated how oocytes reprogram the genome during early development and during an experimental process called therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell
nuclear transfer, which is used to obtain stem cells from oocytes. The team’s work received
many honors, including the General Program Prize of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Keefe also holds several patents relating to his team’s research on in
vitro fertilization techniques. During his time at Brown, Dr. Keefe was also invited by Jack
Welch, then CEO of General Electric, to become one of the first U.S. physicians to study
“lean management” business techniques, which use in-depth analyses of work processes
and customer needs to achieve quality and productivity gains.
Dr. Keefe received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical
degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He did postgraduate training in
medicine, obstetrics, and psychiatry at Yale–New Haven Hospital, Cambridge Hospital/
Harvard Psychiatric Service, and the University of Chicago, followed by fellowships at
Northwestern University and Yale University School of Medicine. He has been a reviewer
for the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the New England Journal of Medicine,
among other publications, and belongs to numerous professional associations.
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Peter M. Kilbridge, MD, Named
Chief Information Officer
Peter M. Kilbridge, MD, has been
named chief medical information
officer at NYU Langone
Medical Center. Previously,
Dr. Kilbridge was based at
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
and Washington University
School of Medicine, where
he led the institution’s
inpatient electronic medical records
initiative and was executive director
of its Pediatric Computing
Facility. During his career,
he also held a National
Laboratory of Medicine–
sponsored fellowship in the
Medical Informatics Library
at Massachusetts General
NYU Physician
fall 2009
Hospital, and he served Duke University
as chair of its Health System Medication
Committee and as associate chief
information officer for patient safety and
clinical effectiveness. A graduate of Case
Western Reserve School of Medicine, Dr.
Kilbridge completed a residency in general
pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric
cardiology at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.
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