Can a Special Diet Help Those Living With Multiple Sclerosis?

Updated on Sep 26, 2025 | Research, Your Health

For those living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), can a special diet potentially help slow the progression of the disease?

This a question that researchers at the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai are studying, and whether a specific diet could reduce substances in the blood linked to inflammation.

“Ultimately, we want to know if we can offer MS patients a program that will empower them to live healthier by permanently changing their eating habits,” says Ilana Katz Sand, MD, a clinician and researcher who is the Center’s associate director and lead study investigator.

The new study is a randomized controlled trial of a special dietary pattern for MS, and is funded by a National MS Society grant.

Ilana Katz Sand, MDThe Mediterranean-Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) dietary pattern has components “that are of potential benefit in terms of limiting neuroinflammation and promoting neuroprotection,” says Dr. Katz Sand.

Since joining the Center staff in 2013, she has been studying how dietary choices affect MS evolution while seeing patients. She and her research team conducted a pilot study of a modified Mediterranean dietary program a few years ago.

“Preliminary data showed this type of diet is helpful” for MS, says Dr. Katz Sand, who serves as co-director of the Center’s Wellness Program. She is also a Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The MIND pattern emphasizes eating fish, green leafy vegetables, lentils, nuts, olive oil, berries, and seeds. Processed foods, particularly red meat, and consuming butter, pastries, and baked goods should be limited.

Neurologists depend on individuals volunteering to participate in research projects that potentially may help advance understanding and treating MS. Dr. Katz Sand’s team is seeking 100 Center patients for the new study. Prospective study participants will first complete a questionnaire about their current eating habits. The study database contains a module that will randomly assign people to either the MIND pattern or to maintaining their current diet for one year.

“Participants hoping to be assigned to one group or the other don’t get to choose. The computer will make the group assignment for us,” she says. This enrollment process reduces potential bias and helps ensure proper distribution by age, gender, and ethnicity between the groups. “It’s really important to us that the study population looks like the population of people who are living with MS,” she says.

Dr. Katz Sand recognizes that asking people to commit to their randomization assignment “for a year is a long time,” but that duration is crucial for evaluating the MIND pattern’s impact on individuals through bloodwork and other assessments. The team is also interested in how difficult participants find it to follow this pattern.

“Ultimately, we want to know we have a nutrition program that people can stick with permanently. It’s really more of a lifestyle than a ‘diet’,” she says.

Participants randomly selected to follow the MIND diet will receive a welcome kit that includes a variety of spices, a large bottle of high-quality olive oil, walnuts, and other helpful food items, a MIND cookbook developed by Center dietitian Jessica Gelman, RD, and a one-year Fresh Direct delivery pass.

“We hope those items will make incorporating changes into their diet a little easier,” says Dr. Katz Sand. In addition, the MIND pattern group will come together for monthly educational sessions and online discussions with her and Ms. Gelman about aspects of the diet and sharing with one another what is going well and what is challenging with the program.

For patients randomly assigned to maintain their current eating habits, online educational seminars will cover a number of topics, including emerging disease modifying therapies.

At the end of the year, those who were assigned to maintain their regular eating habits will also receive the MIND welcome kit and grocery membership so they can adapt to following the MIND pattern.

Several Mount Sinai labs will be involved due to the size and scope of this study. The primary endpoint of the study is a blood biomarker called neurofilament light chain (NfL) that is a measure of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration important to assessing MS worsening.

“Everyone has NfL in their blood, with a set of reference values by age. This marker grows with increasing age. The value tends to be higher in people who have MS, and greater in times of more active inflammation,” says Dr. Katz Sand. “We are hoping the dietary intervention will help decrease the NfL levels.”

To more fully understand what happens to the body when making a big dietary change, other labs specializing in metabolomics, gut microbiota, immune phenotyping, and telomeres will examine the MIND dietary pattern’s impact. The team also will assess the diet’s effect on fatigue, mobility, mood, quality of life, and preventing disease progression in MS.

Dr. Katz Sand anticipates the study “will show the MIND dietary pattern makes a positive difference in the lives of people living with MS.” Information garnered will enable MS providers “to advocate for our patients, to get people the support they need to improve their diet and thereby their health.”

Enrollment will continue through October 2026. The deadline for collecting and processing all lab work is October 2027. The final report with analyses of the study’s findings will be delivered by spring 2028.

To apply to participate, contact Claire Wigley, the lead clinical research coordinator, at claire.wigley@mssm.edu.

By Kenneth Bandler, a multiple sclerosis patient, advocate, and member of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis Advisory Board

 

Learn more about the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis

Stories Behind the Science: A New Way Forward With Food Allergies

Updated on Aug 15, 2025 | Allergy, Featured, Research

Stories Behind the Science: A New Way Forward With Food Allergies

The Esteves family on vacation, from left to right: Craig, Violet, Holly, Jackson, and Sailor Esteves.

Eating out for Jackson Esteves, 10, from Bayville, Long Island, had always been a gamble for him and his parents. With severe food allergies of various kinds—peanuts, dairy, sesame seeds, to name a few—having a meal in a restaurant, or even at a friend’s house, came with challenges and stress.

When Jackson’s parents were told that it could be possible to address at least his peanut allergy and make it less severe, they were ecstatic. “When the opportunity to participate in this trial was presented to us, we jumped,” said Holly Esteves, Jackson’s mother.

Jackson was enrolled into a study, named CAFETERIA, which explored whether it is possible for people who are allergic to peanuts—but are able to take small amounts—to be desensitized to the allergen through a form of immunotherapy that gradually exposes the individuals to peanut butter.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, found that participants who received allergist-supervised treatment with peanut butter were able to tolerate more peanut butter than before, without any allergic reactions.

“Our study results suggest a safe, inexpensive, and effective pathway for allergists to treat children with peanut allergy who can already tolerate the equivalent of at least half a peanut, considered a high-threshold peanut allergy,” said Scott Sicherer, MD, Director of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital.

The findings, published in NEJM Evidence, suggest multiple ways forward for the research team.

“There are still many things we need to know to really broaden the impact of this research,” said Dr. Sicherer, who is also Chief of the Serena and John Liew Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology in Mount Sinai’s Department of Pediatrics.

Scott Sicherer, MD, Director of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, and Chief of the Serena and John Liew Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology in Mount Sinai’s Department of Pediatrics.

“Can we apply this to other allergens? How do we know what the right threshold of tolerance should be? How do we identify whether patients are right for this kind of treatment? The road ahead is an exciting one,” said Dr. Sicherer.

Read below to learn more about how the CAFETERIA study helped Jackson live a fuller life, the next steps for researchers, and what it takes to get there.

A constant state
of hypervigilance

Jackson and Holly Esteves.

Jackson had lived with an allergy diagnosis pretty much since birth.

“It is a constant in our lives. I live with a seriousness that I used to be able to escape, but eventually, being in a perpetual state of high alert takes its toll,” said Ms. Esteves. Every day, several times a day, she worries that her son will encounter an allergic reaction. “I often feel worn down and tired from the worry, but I remember to slow down, breathe, and find gratitude in the little things.”

Over time, the Esteves family learned to adjust to a “never normal.”  “It’s not necessarily easier, it is just what we’re accustomed to,” said Ms. Esteves.

That means that when Jackson goes to school and camp, he carries his own lunch and safe snacks. Going to a friend’s birthday party? He has to bring his own meal and cupcake.

“When we travel, we also need a kitchen accommodation to prepare food,” said Ms. Esteves. “I’ve learned how to order in restaurants, how to engage in constructive conversations with school and camp staff, and really how to advocate for my son always.”

The CAFETERIA study kicked off in August 2019, and Jackson was one of 73 participants in the trial. Participants were randomly and equally assigned to either the ingestion group—starting with one-eighth of a teaspoon of peanut butter, and eventually increasing to one tablespoon—or avoiding peanut products entirely.

After 18 months, both groups were tested on how much peanut they could eat without an allergic reaction. Among those who completed the study, all 32 children in the ingestion group could tolerate two and a half tablespoons of peanut butter. Only 3 of 30 children in the avoidance group could tolerate that amount.

Jackson, who was in the ingestion group, had no issues with the escalation doses. He is currently working with Dr. Sicherer to address his other allergies.

“Today, Jackson is safely eating peanut butter. Not only were we able to open up his diet, but we forged a bond with the Mount Sinai community who deeply understand the need for innovation, treatment, and prevention of food allergy disease,” said Ms. Esteves.

Figure A of this diagram shows the percentage of each respective group that achieved desensitization to peanut product at the end of the trial. Figure B shows the percentage of each respective group that retained that desensitization after being subject to peanut product avoidance. Figure C shows the total dose of peanut product individuals in each respective group was able to tolerate from baseline to the end of the trial. Figure D shows the size of wheals of participants in each group when subject to a skin prick test, from baseline to the end of the trial.

“I am incredibly grateful for our trial experience, for the wonderful professionals who took care of us, and for the research that I hope will help thousands, if not millions, of people,” she said.

And the CAFETERIA study didn’t offer just Jackson a new lease on life—it took a weight off Ms. Esteves too. “I used to lead conversations with an apology for being a bother about Jackson’s allergies, but not anymore. Now I lead with compassionate command,” she said.

“I used to lead conversations with an apology for being a bother about Jackson’s allergies, but not anymore. Now I lead with compassionate command.” —Holly Esteves, Jackson’s mother.

What it takes
to get to the next stage

Dr. Sicherer at the the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute.

With the CAFETERIA study concluded, Dr. Sicherer and his team are already contemplating next steps. The biggest question: can this method of immunotherapy be replicated in other food allergies?

A clear, direct way to test that would be a formal multicenter study in different types of food, said Dr. Sicherer. “That would be a huge undertaking—a clinical trial like that would require, perhaps, in the ballpark of $15 million, and years to run.”

But should the team’s hypothesis prove right, it could change how allergists can treat and advise children with high-threshold food allergies.

“A decade ago, allergists used to tell patients to completely avoid a food they were allergic to, even if they had a threshold before getting a reaction,” said Dr. Sicherer. “With the findings from the CAFETERIA study, it could be a future where patients could work with their doctors to start small, and eventually overcome their allergy.”

Specialists in the field have indicated interest in this new possibility, noted Dr. Sicherer. In a survey his team did, many allergists said they were open to recommending that patients with high-threshold allergies attempt a food escalation challenge.

Basic science
matters too

Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH, MPhil, Mount Sinai Professor in Allergy and Systems Biology, has a lab focused on studying systems biology in allergy and asthma.

Even as the team is applying for grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund that trial, researchers at Mount Sinai are working on parallel questions that the CAFETERIA study couldn’t address.

“Pharmaceutical companies have long focused on developing options for people who have low-threshold food allergies—meaning they react even to the slightest amount,” said Dr. Sicherer. “But not all patients with allergies are the same. What if they have higher thresholds, then how do we know which strategy—be it our protocol from the CAFETERIA study, or the commercial drugs—is best suited for them?”

There are two Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for food allergies: Palforzia, peanut allergen powder, used as ingested immunotherapy for children with confirmed peanut allergies, and Xolair® (omalizumab), an injected antibody therapy used to reduce the risk of allergic reactions in case of an accidental exposure.

“Furthermore, we need a better way of identifying allergy thresholds in patients other than by feeding patients increasing amounts of a food to see when symptoms start,” said Dr. Sicherer.

A key to answering those questions: biomarkers. Researchers at the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute and elsewhere in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are tackling biomarkers at all levels, from basic science to human models. Some ongoing allergy research at labs at Mount Sinai include:

  • Hugh Sampson, MD, Kurt Hirschhorn, M.D./The Children’s Center Foundation Chair in Pediatrics, focusing on the humoral immune system and the proteins it makes that cause allergic reactions.
  • Maria Curotto de Lafaille, PhD, working on B cells and food allergies.
  • Erik Wambre, PhD, Director of Technology and Business Development at the Human Immune Monitoring Center at Mount Sinai, working on T cell responses in food allergies.
  • Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH, MPhil, Mount Sinai Professor in Allergy and Systems Biology, studying systems biology in allergy and asthma, including the microbiome.

Dr. Sicherer (left) with Hugh Sampson, MD (right), Kurt Hirschhorn, M.D./The Children’s Center Foundation Chair in Pediatrics, whose lab focuses on the humoral immune system and the proteins it makes that cause allergic reactions.

These teams are firing on all cylinders to gather support. “Even philanthropic support can lead to something greater,” said Dr. Sicherer. “After all, that’s how the CAFETERIA study got started.”

To get NIH funding, one needs preliminary data as part of the application. In 2015, the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute launched the Food Allergy Treatment and Research Center, which is supported by philanthropy. The research center had a high success rate with a pilot study that was the precursor of the CAFETERIA study. With those findings, Dr. Sicherer applied for NIH funding in 2017, and was awarded the grant in 2018.

In a way, the journey of this research has similarities with the treatment protocol, where patients escalate from one dose to the next, eventually getting their desired outcome, noted Dr. Sicherer.

“In this case, it began with small philanthropic support, leading to a small study and idea, which then led to the CAFETERIA study,” he said. “I can’t wait to see where it goes next.”

A Top Mount Sinai Neuroscience PhD Student Writes a Winning Essay as She Proposes Mentorship Initiatives Encouraging a Love for Science and Medicine in Rural America

Jul 31, 2025 | Featured, Research

“The question is, how many potential scientists are lost because they have never seen a path forward?” says Anna Bright, a Neuroscience PhD student. “What if, instead of stumbling upon a passion by chance, students had direct access to mentors who could illuminate the possibilities before them?”

When Anna Bright, a Neuroscience PhD student at Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, was growing up in rural Tennessee, it was not easy to imagine a career in science. Who would be her role model?

“My story is not unique,” says Ms. Bright. “Countless rural students face similar struggles, navigating their education with limited exposure to careers beyond their immediate surroundings. The question is, how many potential scientists are lost because they have never seen a path forward? What if, instead of stumbling upon a passion by chance, students had direct access to mentors who could illuminate the possibilities before them?”

Today, Ms. Bright is leading an outreach effort to implement mentorship initiatives in rural school systems that connect students with alumni who have pursued advanced degrees in science and medicine.

Ms. Bright passionately wrote about her outreach effort in an essay, “Sending Science Down Yonder,” that she submitted recently for the international 2025 Essay Contest sponsored by the Lasker Foundation. In July, she was named one of the four co-winners. Participants were asked to write about a specific innovation in education or training that would help ensure a sustainable, inclusive, and successful future biomedical research workforce. Click here to read her essay and to watch short videos about her interests and experiences as a young scientist. 

“Beyond the initial excitement of being named a winner, I mostly felt grateful to have my story shared with a wider audience,” Ms. Bright says. “This is tangible evidence that my personal experience struggling to find how someone of my socioeconomic background could fit into the academic world is something worth telling—and ideally, correcting, for the next generation of scientists.

“Today, well over halfway into my PhD, I still have moments where I doubt I belong in this space. This is a reminder that educational resources need to be extended to students who still encounter barriers to higher education—whether that be financial, cultural, or systemic. I would like to thank my lab members and my mentor, Joel Blanchard, for cultivating such a supportive and creative space for conducting science.”

Ms. Bright is a fourth-year student in the lab of Joel Blanchard, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, whose research group engineers 3D models of human brain tissue from stem cells and applies them to understanding and therapeutically targeting risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease, and other forms of cognitive impairment.

 “We are particularly interested in how glial cells and brain vasculature play a role in neurodegeneration,” she says. “We explore how genetic and environmental factors affect astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, and the blood-brain barrier in ways that trigger pathology.”

Her thesis project centers around how APOE4, a gene variant and the largest genetic risk factor for AD, affects oligodendrocyte development and myelination. “The primary role of oligodendrocytes in the brain is to produce myelin, the fatty blanket wrapped around axons to promote health and signaling. Myelin degeneration is one of the earliest pathologies in AD, so understanding why it breaks down in this disease could open the door for novel preventative methods.”

In July, she was the first author on a review paper in Nature Cell Biology that included Dr. Blanchard and two researchers affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

“We reviewed literature connecting oligodendrocyte and myelin deficits to AD,” she says. “A wide range of evidence implicates this cell type in AD onset and progression, and we discuss seminal studies establishing oligodendrocyte biology as a key player in AD, proposed underlying mechanisms, emerging techniques in myelin research, and next directions for this field of study.”

Says Dr. Blanchard: “Anna brings a rare combination of creativity, persistence, and a deep sense of purpose to her work. Her research on how APOE4 affects oligodendrocyte development is breaking new ground in our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, while her passion for mentorship and outreach shows her commitment to shaping the future of science. We’re incredibly proud to see her recognized with this award. It reflects both her scientific contributions and the positive impact she is already having on the next generation.”

Learn more about the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai Ranked a Global Leader in Health Care Research

Updated on Jul 2, 2025 | Featured, Research, School

Thomas Marron, MD, PhD, Professor of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (left), and Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai Professor in Cancer Immunology (right), at an immunology lab with researchers.

Each year, the Nature Index—a database produced by academic publisher Springer Nature that tracks research output—puts out a ranking list of leading institutions, organizations, and corporations with publications in prestigious journals.

In the Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders list released in June, the Mount Sinai Health System earned top marks: among health care institutions in the United States and North America, it was No. 5 for its research output. When compared against health care institutions around the world, Mount Sinai ranked sixth.

“These rankings are a reflection of the spectacular success that we have had in building innovative research programs at Mount Sinai,” said Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System and Interim Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In recent years, the Health System and the Icahn School have launched several new departments, institutes, centers, and programs in key areas of biomedicine and health care delivery, he noted.

The ranking is based on a score that takes into account the number of published papers in a defined list of prestigious journals, as well as contributing authors’ share of the papers. Mount Sinai was the only health care institution among the top 10 to have improved its adjusted share score in this year’s ranking from the previous year.

Who came in top? Click to see the full rankings.

Attaining that ranking is no small feat, considering Mount Sinai researchers focus only on a narrow scope of topics within health and life sciences, and do not produce research in other areas, including engineering, energy sciences, and astronomy.

As U.S. research institutions enter a period of funding uncertainty, staying a leader will take boldness and creativity, and Mount Sinai’s ability to respond with unusual nimbleness to opportunities as they arise will certainly help, said Dr. Nestler. “We have formulated a new strategic plan for research that will guide our continued growth, development, and leadership over the next 5 to 10 years,” he said.

Curious about where Mount Sinai shone in research? Take a look at the tables below, which showcase the journals Mount Sinai researchers had authored most papers in, as well as leading research topics.

Top five journals Mount Sinai published in during 2024
Leading research topics for Mount Sinai in 2024
Number Publication name Article count
1 Nature Communications 96
2 Nature 37
3 Journal of the American College of Cardiology 37
4 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 30
5 Nature Medicine 21
Number Research topic Article count
1 Clinical sciences 165
2 Oncology and carcinogenesis 120
3 Cardiovascular medicine and hematology 85
4 Neurosciences 41
5 Nutrition and dietetics 37

Stories Behind the Science: Dennis S. Charney, MD, and Psychiatry

Updated on Jun 25, 2025 | Featured, Psychiatry, Research, School

Stories Behind the Science: Dennis S. Charney, MD, and Psychiatry

Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, created a legacy by serving as Dean for 18 years—one of the longest tenures of any medical school dean in the United States. His research career has been just as illustrious over the decades.

Rooted in psychiatry, pharmacology, and neurobiology, Dr. Charney’s research has resulted in treatment breakthroughs for depression, enhanced medical and scientific understanding, and led to two U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies. He has published more than 800 articles, which have been cited more than 198,000 times, according to Google Scholar, and was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine in 2000.

To read more about Dr. Charney’s career timeline, click here

One of his biggest research milestones was discovering that ketamine can be used as a fast-acting antidepressant, offering a useful alternative for patients who do not respond well to conventional therapies. However, pursuing that discovery was not easy amid societal stigma at the time.

“We were looked at like we were pursuing a PCP study or something,” said Dr. Charney, referring to the recreational street drug. “But we knew we had something big on our hands. We were on the verge of discovering something that could change the lives of patients, and we were very motivated. We weren’t scared, and we went about doing it the right way.”

In addition to discovering the antidepressive effects of ketamine, Dr. Charney is known for his work on the science of resilience, and for his role in the first FDA-approved digital therapeutic for depression.

Read more below about the decades of Dr. Charney’s research efforts, and what it was like being at the frontier.

The Beginnings:
A Focus on Bringing
Bench to Bedside

A young Dr. Charney (right) with mentor and collaborator George Heninger, MD (left), photo taken in 1996.

In the early 1980s, working at the Yale School of Medicine in conjunction with the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Dr. Charney was focused on understanding the pathophysiology of serious forms of depression, along with panic and anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“We wanted to develop better treatments for these conditions,” said Dr. Charney.

At the time, the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine were known to be involved in some psychiatric conditions, and Dr. Charney and his team members were developing methods of examining those relationships closely.

“It’s fair to say we developed, at that time, more sophisticated ways of studying those neurotransmitters,” he said, adding, “although they’re probably not considered sophisticated today.”

Those efforts led to the study of yohimbine, an alkaloid of the bark of the yohimbe tree, which revealed that excessive norepinephrine function was involved in panic disorder and PTSD (Arch Gen Psychiatry, 1984, now JAMA Psychiatry).

“That study was a great example of a combination of going from the lab to studying patients,” he said.

While a number of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors were emerging at the time, Dr. Charney’s findings were showing that targeting these neurotransmitters alone were insufficient to move the needle on treating depression.

“However, I felt that just looking at serotonin and norepinephrine couldn’t tell us the whole story about depression,” said Dr. Charney.

Finding Alternatives: Ketamine and the Glutamate System

Starting in the late 1980s, the treatment of major depression moved toward using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). However, there was still a notable proportion of patients for whom these drugs were not effective enough.

“In patients who were not doing better, we tried to augment the serotonin system,” said Dr. Charney. “It didn’t work.”

“With all the studies we’ve been doing in depression, we thought monoamines told only part of the story in depression,” he noted, referring to the class of neurotransmitters that includes dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. “So we thought maybe there is another system that was, in part, regulated by the monoamines, but would be more fundamentally involved in depression.”

In the early 1990s, Dr. Charney and his collaborator at Yale, John H. Krystal, MD, began looking for a pathway affected by monoamine neurotransmitters, and through a logical progression of studies, focused on the glutamate system and, soon, on ketamine—an anesthetic with known effects on the glutamate system. This work yielded some of Dr. Charney’s top-cited papers (Arch Gen Psych, 1994).

In the mid-1990s, Drs. Charney and Krystal did a series of studies on ketamine, first on healthy volunteers and then a small trial on seven patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The results were shocking.

“The patients got better in a few hours,” recalled Dr. Charney. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ As an investigator watching it, it was like a miracle.”

Dennis S. Charney, MD (right) with John H. Krystal, MD (left), being awarded the Colvin Prize at the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Gala, November 2019.

Drs. Charney and Krystal published their findings (Biological Psychiatry, 2000), but faced skepticism from both the scientific and general communities. The study was dismissed as not being replicable, and additionally for the fact that the researchers were working with a compound that was stigmatized for its recreational use.

When Dr. Charney went to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2000, he sought to repeat history. “Nobody believed it, nobody was trying to replicate it, so we’re going to have to do it ourselves at NIMH,” he said. “In the second study, we replicated it dead on.”

At the end of his stint at NIMH in 2004, Dr. Charney brought his findings with him to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (now the Icahn School of Medicine), where he began his career as Dean of Research.

Dr. Charney is a named co-inventor on patents filed by Mount Sinai relating to the use of ketamine for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression and suicidal ideation. Mount Sinai licensed those patents to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the development of SPRAVATO (esketamine) by Janssen, which received FDA approval in 2019. Its approval makes it the first antidepressant of its kind to target N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors—introducing the first new class of antidepressant drugs since the 1950s.

A Prescription for Resilience

In the 1990s, Dr. Charney turned his focus to studying trauma and PTSD, in collaboration with Steven M. Southwick, MD. That journey led to some of Dr. Charney’s most impactful work on understanding resilience.

“My buddy, Steve Southwick, was really involved in that work,” said Dr. Charney of his colleague, who passed away in 2022. “He’s on a lot of my papers, and he became my closest friend.” The ties between the two researchers dated back to before the 1980s.

Drs. Charney and Southwick tackled understanding PTSD from all angles—psychological, biological, social, pharmacological. Then, they had an idea to take their findings a step further to help patients.

“Back then, we thought, ‘If we studied people who were resilient—people who had been traumatized but didn’t develop PTSD—perhaps we could learn something from it, and apply those lessons to help patients with PTSD,” said Dr. Charney. “That’s how I ended up studying resilience for over 30 years.”

Dr. Charney’s paper on resilience (Am. J. Psychiatry, 2004) became one of his most cited works after his publications on ketamine in depression. He and Dr. Southwick then published a book called “Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges” (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

The book, now in its third edition, is rooted in the hundreds of interviews Drs. Charney and Southwick did with people who faced challenges in their lives—including prisoners of war and survivors of sexual and physical abuse. It includes a “prescription” for being resilient—10 steps that people can take to overcome life challenges.

From left to right, Dennis S. Charney, MD; Steven M. Southwick, MD; and John H. Krystal, MD.

“Not just for others—our research on resilience was also a personal journey,” said Dr. Charney. In 2016, Dr. Charney survived being shot, and he credits the lessons on resilience for overcoming that ordeal.

Those resilient factors also helped Dr. Charney navigate the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he established the Center for Stress, Resilience and Personal Growth in 2020 to extend that support to Mount Sinai staff.

Through Boldness,
a New Therapy Emerges

 

In 2024, the FDA approved a new class of treatments: digital therapeutics. In that class was REJOYN, a prescription smartphone app by Click Therapeutics and Otsuka Precision Health for major depressive disorder. That novel treatment had its beginnings through Dr. Charney’s research.

“This goes back to when we were interviewing prisoners of war who were subject to solitary confinement in Vietnam,” said Dr. Charney. “Some of them said that when they were in solitary, all they could do was think.”

A Life Magazine cover from 1967, featuring a prisoner of war from the Vietnam War, whom Drs. Charney and Southwick had interviewed as part of their research on resilience. That body of work eventually led to the development of Rejoyn, a digital app for treating depression.

Over time, some of those individuals reported developing cognitive capacities they never had before, such as being able to do complex multiplication with just their mind. “To me, that suggested evidence of neuroplasticity, where you can change the chemistry and circuits in your brain through repeated tasks,” said Dr. Charney.

With that inspiration, Dr. Charney pondered whether neuroplasticity could be tapped to “correct” the brain circuitry of patients with depression and improve their symptoms.

“We knew something about the circuits of depression that involved the prefrontal cortex and subcortical regions, like the amygdala. What if we developed a task that involved both of those regions?” he said.

Brian Iacoviello, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine, and Dr. Charney developed the Emotional Faces Memory Task and ran two randomized controlled studies. The findings (npj Digital Medicine, 2018) showed that patients who did the task repeatedly had improvements in their depression symptoms.

Drs. Charney and Iacoviello are co-inventors of patents filed by Mount Sinai for the Emotional Faces Memory Task intervention for the treatment of depression and related psychiatric disorders. Mount Sinai licensed the patents to Click Therapeutics, Inc. and Otsuka Precision Health for the development of REJOYN, a digital treatment for depression. REJOYN received FDA clearance in 2024, as the first prescription adjunctive treatment for adults with MDD.

“Like with ketamine for depression, I see going for a digital approach for depression as a story about being bold,” said Dr. Charney. “Each time, it was a realization that our current understanding isn’t enough, and it’s worth it to take a different approach.”

With more than 50 patents, and a slew of scientific achievements, what’s next for Dr. Charney? “Resilience will continue to inspire me after I step down as Dean,” he said.

Dr. Charney steps down as Dean from the Icahn School of Medicine on Monday, June 30, and Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, has been appointed Interim Dean.

“I’m going to need to figure out how to be inspired next. I’m going to continue my research in depression and resilience,” said Dr. Charney. One option that’s underway is working on the fourth edition of his book on resilience. But there might be other bold options out there too.

“I have two therapies on the market,” said Dr. Charney. “My goal is to discover a third. I’m not sure if anyone in psychiatry has ever done that.”

Annual Symposium of the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute Emphasizes Bold Discussions and Innovation in Health Care

Updated on May 1, 2025 | Featured, Research

The 13th annual symposium of the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai emphasized bold discussions and innovation in health care.

The event featured distinguished worldwide academic and industry leaders who participated in informal conversations and panel discussions about innovation and transformation in health care. The theme, “beBOLD,” captured the spirit of pioneering advancements in health care technology and “the human drive to explore, innovate, and unite in the pursuit of greater knowledge and understanding,” said BMEII Director Zahi Fayad, PhD.

“Health care is a constantly evolving field that demands adaptive scientists, clinicians, and engineers to build the infrastructure to support this evolution,” he added. “This symposium addressed the innovation reshaping the landscape and bringing ideas closer to real-world patient impact.”

More than 370 people attended the symposium, including researchers, physicians, medical students and trainees, and industry leaders inside and outside of health care. The event was held at the New York Academy of Medicine on Wednesday and Thursday, March 19-20.

Brendan Carr, MD, MA, MS, Chief Executive Officer and Professor and Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Distinguished Chair, Mount Sinai Health System, kicked off the symposium with welcome remarks. Dr. Carr explained the importance of the symposium’s theme and how it encompasses Mount Sinai’s vision and ethos. He highlighted BMEII’s multidisciplinary nature and drive to solve problems, leading to new models for delivering care. His remarks set the tone for the event, aligning the audience’s expectations and generating excitement for what lay ahead.

The symposium hosted two one-on-one discussions, with a standout moment the “Bold Discussion” between Arianna Huffington and David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group. Interviewed by Mr. Rubenstein, Ms. Huffington shared her inspiration behind creating Thrive Global, a behavior change technology focused on improving well-being and productivity. She emphasized the five scientifically-backed keys to a healthier life—sleep, food, exercise, stress management, and connection—and the power of incremental, consistent habit changes to achieve this well-roundedness.

The second discussion, titled “Bold Healthcare,” featured a conversation between Scott Gottlieb, MD, a former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who is a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, and Whitney Casey, Partner and Co-Founder of Tally Health. It addressed the future of health care startups, their transformative potential, and the regulatory landscape shaping these emerging ventures. The perspectives of Mr. Gottlieb, a health care investor, and Ms. Casey, a long-time wellness investor, underscored the importance of investing in novel, disruptive ideas and building them into commercial products.

Both one-on-one discussions addressed the symposium’s forward-thinking theme by discussing innovative health care technologies focusing on both prevention and treatment of well-known conditions for better health outcomes.

A highlight of the four panel discussions was the panel titled “Bold Execution in AI Radiology.” This included five industry and academic leaders and addressed how AI is steering transformation and setting new standards in health care. The panelists also discussed the challenges and concerns faced by physicians when implementing AI into their workflow.

“The digitization of health care, which has been powerful for many reasons, has caused much more burden to be put on the radiologist now,” said John Paulett, BSE, an engineer at HOPPR, a firm building an AI model for medical imaging and an advisor at Rad AI. “I think what we often get is ‘how can we take some of that burden off the radiologist to let them practice what they are good at?’ It’s not the clerical work that they’re good at [or] the administrative work that they’re good at. So, we’ve approached this less from a diagnostic perspective and more from a workflow and an avenue of how we can make the radiologists focus on the interpretation of images—what they’re trained to do well.”

He and his team have revolutionized radiology reporting practices and combined technological expertise with strategic vision to build innovative natural language processing and machine learning solutions in health care.

Timothy W. Deyer, MD, MSE, Chief Medical Information Officer of East River Medical Imaging, the only practicing radiologist on the panel, echoed his concerns about AI.

“The current environment is very fragmented. We have a lot of very small solutions that do very specific things, and I can tell you it’s an absolute pain in the neck to implement sometimes. Having a more cohesive product that more seamlessly integrates into the workflow is incredibly important,” said Dr. Deyer.

Outside of the rigorous panel discussions, the symposium also included sessions geared towards building young scientists’ knowledge and networks.

The Early Career Session guided students and postdoctoral fellows through obtaining their first grant. The poster and innovation station sessions allowed attendees to hear about current research in the field of medical imaging by BMEII members and scientists from other institutes.

Learn more about the BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute at Mount Sinai

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