Current Research and Scholarly Interests
A revolution is under way in psychiatry.
We can now understand mental illness as an expression of underlying brain circuit disruptions, shaped by experience and genetics.
Our challenge is to now accelerate the translation of these insights into new models of mental disorder, and improve lives. Right now, mental disorders are our number one cause of ruined lives. At least 1 in 10 of us is affected by these disorders but only a fraction get access to treatment. Fewer still get better after the first treatment they try.
My lab is finding solutions to these problems.
We are defining precision brain circuit biotypes for mood, anxiety and attention disorders. We integrate across large amounts of brain imaging, behavior and other data and computational approaches. Biotypes are used in personalized intervention studies with selective drugs, neuromodulation and exploratory therapeutics. To close the loop, field ready insights are applied in practice.
We are advancing a neuroscience-informed approach to Precision Mental Health for Psychiatry.
1. Neural circuit taxonomy
We have developed a novel brain-based taxonomy for understanding mental disorders. Each person's experience of mental disorder is characterized as an expression of the way in which underlying circuits are disrupted. Our model accounts for how circuit disruptions are shaped by early life experience, by daily function, and by genetic contributions.
2. Advanced computational models
To continually refine our taxonomy, and to discover new types, we use advanced machine-learning approaches. By choosing to use common data elements, we have amassed the largest available databank of integrated imaging, physiological, behavioral and genetic data on a spectrum of mood, anxiety and attention disorders, people at risk of these disorders and healthy people. With these large amounts of data, we are accelerating the discovery of new types, and the detailed mapping between brain circuits, behavior and experience.
3. Mapping human connectomes
In a new human connectome study, we are adding higher resolution imaging of brain connectivity to our brain circuit model. With these connectome data, we extend our taxonomy to the precise mapping of how each person's brain circuits connect and communicate, and how "short circuits" in these connections cause particular types of symptom experiences.
4. Biomarkers to predict treatment
Our lab led the first multi-site international studies to identify imaging and genetic biomarkers that predict the right treatment for the right person at the right time. With these advances, we can double the number of people who recover from depression. We have launched new precision medicine in mental health studies that use biotypes to guide selection of interventions. Our intervention studies span selective drugs, targeting particular biotypes, neuromodulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and rapid acting exploratory therapeutics, including ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin.
5. Accelerating translation into practice
There is a giant chasm between neuroscience insights and their application in practice to improve lives for people experiencing mental disorders. To close this loop, we lead first-in-nation studies to accelerate the translation of field-ready insights into clinical practice and education.
Because our focus is on changing the way we understand mental disorder, our lab embraces the heterogeneity of these disorders. We focus on the commonly co-occurring experiences of mood, anxiety and attentional disruption in adults and in young people. We also investigate other commonly associated experiences such as substance use.
For more about what motivates us check out the websites for our Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness, the Williams PanLab and our Youtube channel:
http://med.stanford.edu/pmhw
https://williamspanlab.com
https://youtu.be/ys9I8hax-To
