Researcher profile

Jonathan Savitz

My research integrates tools from psychiatry, neuroscience, immunology, and virology to understand the link between immune dysfunction and depression. I am particularly interested in the co-occurring phenomena of inflammation and impaired adaptive immunity in depression, their etiology, effect on brain and behavior, and implications for public health. My research makes use of experimental designs to elucidate the mechanistic pathways through which inflammatory stimuli are transduced into depressive and anhedonic symptoms . My colleagues and I also perform clinical trials to test the antidepressant efficacy and mechanisms of action of immune-modulating medications . My second line of research research focuses on the potentially pathogenic effects of herpesviruses, especially cytomegalovirus (CMV), in the context of psychiatric illness. My lab has produced the first evidence linking CMV to brain and immune abnormalities in both people with major neuropsychiatric disorders and football players with concussion. I have published >170 papers (>80 as first or senior author) which have been cited >17,000 times. Google Scholar H-index: 65.