Dr. Brian Patrick Brennan

Dr. Brennan received a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and later received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2000. After completing an internship in internal medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital he went on to do his residency training in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. Following completion of his training he worked as an attending psychiatrist on the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder inpatient unit at McLean Hospital and later completed a two-year psychopharmacology/clinical trials fellowship in the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory under the mentorship of Drs. James Hudson and Harrison Pope. During this time he acquired extensive experience in the design and execution of clinical trials investigating novel treatments for a variety of psychiatric disorders including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. His primary research interest is in the development of novel …pharmacologic treatments for mood disorders through the translation of basic science discoveries into human treatment trials. Specifically, his current interests include the investigation of glutamate-modulating drugs and mitochondrial supplement treatments for bipolar disorder (collaboration with Drs. Dost Ongur and Bruce Cohen at the Shervert Frazier Research Institute), the use of hormonal interventions including testosterone and DHEA in the treatment of refractory depression (collaboration with Dr. Harrison Pope), and research into the pathophysiology and treatment of pain disorders comorbid with depressive disorders (collaboration with Drs. James Hudson and David Borsook).