Our research program is focused on connecting molecular neuroscience with psychiatry through mechanistic studies of how growth and plasticity factors, such as BDNF and endocannabinoids, contribute to the pathophysiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Through collaborations with researchers at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, our lab has pioneered vertically integrated research strategies to perform parallel genetic mouse model studies with human behavioral and imaging studies to identify how individual variation contributes to risk and resilience for mental illness.
Biography
Dr. Francis Lee obtained an MD and PhD from the University of Michigan, followed by Psychiatry residency training at Payne Whitney Clinic, Weill Cornell Medical College. He completed further postdoctoral training in molecular neuroscience at the Skirball Institute, New York University and the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Lee is the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Psychiatrist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Lee directs a laboratory whose main area of research is in basic molecular and neural mechanisms that are relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular, his research is focused on using genetic models to delineate the role of growth factors, such as BDNF, in complex behaviors related to the pathophysiology and treatment of affective disorders.
