Penn Med Neuropsychopharmacology

The Neuropsychopharmacology Training Program is a postdoctoral and predoctoral training program that provides interdisciplinary training in areas related to the biological basis and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. In addition to advanced research training in outstanding laboratories, Ph.D. postdoctoral trainees develop a greater sensitivity to the importance of clinical care issues by exposure to medical conferences, physician trainees, and patients (through structured clinical rotations). M.D. postdoctoral trainees are provided with laboratory-based research experience for building research careers in academic medicine. All of the trainees receive didactic exposure to different fields through our Colloquia Series and specialty clubs, formalized courses, research retreats, training in research ethics, and training in occupational hazards.

Predoctoral trainees in the Neuropsychopharmacology Training Program are advanced graduate students in the Biomedical Graduate Studies in the School of Medicine. They are provided special training and exposure to activities that integrate basic research in psychopharmacology and clinical treatment.

The Neuropsychopharmacology Training Program is supported by more than 30 basic and clinical research faculty across the University, including faculty from the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior in the Department of Psychiatry. Established research projects include:

behavioral neuropharmacology;
effects of pharmacological agents on neurotransmitter receptors and signal transduction;
biological aspects of affective illness;
genetic mechanisms involved with the inheritance of complex behavioral traits;
brain mechanisms of arousal and sleep;
neuropathology of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease;
brain imaging and development of radioligands;
pharmacology of antidepressants and anxiolytics.

Director - Irwin Lucki, Ph.D., lucki@pharm.med.upenn.edu

Co-Director - Wade H. Berrettini, M.D., Ph.D., wadeb@mail.med.upenn.edu