Sarah Lisanby
Sarah Hollingsworth “Holly” Lisanby received dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Psychology from Duke University in 1987 and an MD in 1991 from there as well. She also completed her Residency at Duke in Psychiatry in 1995, serving as Chief Resident. Her Postdoctorial Fellowship in affective disorders research and geriatric psychiatry was conducted at Columbia University.
In 2010, she returned to Duke as JP Gibbons Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, becoming the first woman to Chair the Department. She founded and directed both the Duke and the Columbia University Divisions of Brain Stimulation, where she built interdisciplinary research programs specializing in the convergence of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Engineering. She co-led the NIH BRAIN Initiative Team focused on large-scale neural recording and modulation devices.
Since 2015, Dr. Lisanby has been Director of the Division of Translational Research at National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which funds research on the discovery of preventions, treatments, and cures for mental illness across the lifespan. She is Founder and Director of the Noninvasive Neuromodulation Unit in the NIMH Intramural Research Program, a multi-disciplinary clinical research program specializing in the innovation of new brain stimulation tools to measure and modulate neuroplasticity to improve mental health.
Dr. Lisanby has been Principal Investigator on a series of federally funded grants on the development of novel neuromodulation technologies, including the rational design of magnetic and electrical seizure therapies. Her team pioneered magnetic seizure therapy (MST) as a novel depression treatment from the stages of animal testing, first-in-human, and international clinical trials. She led a series of studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), MST, vagus nerve stimulation, and deep brain stimulation.
A prolific author with over 280 scientific publications, Dr. Lisanby has served in key leadership positions with numerous professional associations and received several recognitions including:
- Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- Max Hamilton Memorial Prize of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum
- Gerald L. Klerman Award from the National Depression and Manic Depression Association
- Eva King Killam Research Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
- President for the Association for Convulsive Therapy/International Society of Neurostimulation
- President for the International Society for Transcranial Stimulation
- Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force to Revise the Practice on Electroconvulsive Therapy
- FDA Neurological Devices Advisory Panel
- Member, NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors
Interview
This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Sarah Lisanby on January 19, 2011 by Jessica Roseberry.