Joseph Cichon, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Director of In vivo imaging center for anesthetics and psychedelics, Penn
Department: Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
3400 Spruce Street, Suite 680 Dulles
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
3400 Spruce Street, Suite 680 Dulles
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Education:
BS
Pennsylvania State University, 2008.
MS
Pennsylvania State University, 2009.
PhD (Neuroscience & Physiology)
NYU School of Medicine, 2015.
MD
NYU School of Medicine, 2017.
Permanent linkBS
Pennsylvania State University, 2008.
MS
Pennsylvania State University, 2009.
PhD (Neuroscience & Physiology)
NYU School of Medicine, 2015.
MD
NYU School of Medicine, 2017.
Description of Clinical Expertise
Neuroanesthesia, general anesthesia, sedation, pharmacology, critical care medicine.Description of Research Expertise
The cellular and circuit mechanisms of anesthetics, rapid-acting antidepressants, and psychedelics.Selected Publications
Zorumski CF, Cichon J, Izumi Y, Zeffiro T, Mennerick S, Nagele P, Conway CR.: Rapid antidepressant potential of nitrous oxide: current state and major questions. Mol Psychiatry Dec 2025.Bera K, Looger LL, Proekt A, Cichon J.: Cortical Mechanisms Contributing to Ketamine-Induced Dissociation. Neuroscientist Dec 2025.
Hammo A, Wisser S, Cichon J.: Single-dose psilocybin rapidly and sustainably relieves allodynia and anxiodepressive-like behaviors in mouse models of chronic pain. Nature Neuroscience 28(11): 2285-2295, Nov 2025.
Wisser S, Blackwood EB, Bera K, Wasilczuk AZ, Looger LL, Proekt A, Cichon J.: Rapid neonatal AAV delivery for adult cortical two-photon imaging of genetically encoded sensors. iScience 28(11), Oct 2025.
Joseph Cichon, Thomas T. Joseph, Xinguo Lu, Andrzej Z. Wasilczuk, Max B. Kelz, Steven J. Mennerick, Charles F. Zorumski & Peter Nagele : Nitrous Oxide activates layer 5 prefrontal neurons via SK2 channel inhibition for antidepressant effect. Nature Communication. Nature (16), 2999, April 2025.
The Last Show with David Cooper: Laughing gas appears to reduce depression, but researchers don't totally understand why. Corus Radio network 2025.
Daniel Markman, Andrzej Z. Wasilczuk, and Joseph Michael Cichon: General Anesthesia Occludes Ketamine's Antidepressant Response in a Rodent Model of Chronic Stress. Psychedelic Medicine Mary Ann Liebert, May 2024 Notes: Published online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1089/psymed.2024.000.
Joseph Cichon, Andrzej Z. Wasilczuk, Loren L. Looger, Diego Contreras, Max B. Kelz & Alex Proekt: Ketamine triggers a switch in excitatory neuronal activity across neocortex. Nature Neuroscience Nature Neuroscience 26: 39-52, Nov 2022 Notes: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01203-5.
Joseph Cichon, Renyu Liu, and Hoang V. Le: Therapeutic Potential of Salvinorin A and Its Analogues in Various Neurological Disorders. Transl Perioper Pain Med 9(2): 452–457, June 2022.
Sun L, Zhou H, Cichon J, Yang G.: Experience and sleep-dependent synaptic plasticity: from structure to activity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 375: 20190234, May 2020.