Dost Öngür Named William P. and Henry B. Test Professor of Psychiatry

Dost Öngür, MD, PhD, has been promoted to the rank of full professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and has also been selected to serve as the William P. and Henry B. Test Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Öngür’s impressive and substantial contributions to psychiatric knowledge, to McLean Hospital, and to Harvard Medical School make him the natural choice to be installed in this prestigious endowed chair. He joins a select group of McLean faculty to achieve such recognition.

“Dost is a tremendous leader,” said Scott L. Rauch, MD, McLean’s president and psychiatrist in chief. “He is a collaborative colleague, a wonderfully generative teacher and mentor, an innovative and rigorous investigator, and a compassionate and superbly skilled clinician. He is a model member of the McLean and HMS communities, and I am so pleased that he has been recognized with these well-deserved honors.”

As a clinician-scientist whose primary research focuses on brain abnormalities in major psychotic disorders using in vivo neuroimaging, particularly magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Dr. Öngür has become an internationally recognized leader in glial, glutamatergic, and bioenergetic dysfunction in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Building upon his work in the lab, his leadership role as chief of the Division of Psychotic Disorders is critical to the hospital’s mission and to advancing our understanding of these debilitating disorders, leading to new insights in treatment and prevention strategies. His research activities have already made significant clinical and translational impact.

Beyond McLean and HMS, Dr. Öngür is a highly sought-after speaker, collaborator, and mentor. Thus far, he has presented his work at more than 60 regional, national, and international conferences and seminars, reflecting the great interest in his work by other experts in psychotic disorders. The unusual breadth and depth of his research activities, with a focus on psychotic disorders, is reflected in his publication and funding track record. He has published over 160 articles, and, as a principal investigator or co-principal investigator, he has received 19 grants in his career.

The scope of his knowledge and thoughtful approach to bridging science and clinical care led him to be appointed as editor-in-chief for JAMA Psychiatry in 2018, a top journal in the field.

A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Dr. Öngür graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College and received a Master of Science degree in Neuroscience from Yale University. Following completion of his MD/PhD in the Medical Scientists Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Öngür was actively recruited by the MGH/McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program. As a resident, he established the Psychiatry Neuroscience Journal Club and served as assistant editor for the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. He was named chief resident for the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Program at McLean during his last year of residency, completing the program in 2004.