David Pickar

David Pickar, MDDavid Pickar, M.D., is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  Dr. Pickar has served on the Psychiatry Drug Advisory Committee for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 2014-2018.  He is Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and is Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.  Dr. Pickar served in the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for over 20 years where he was Chief of the Experimental Therapeutics Branch.  He studied mood disorders, the endogenous opioid system and the pathophysiology of psychosis and schizophrenia.  Dr. Pickar’s work revealing the therapeutic effects of alpha2 antagonist adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia is currently in clinical development.  Dr. Pickar participates in neuropsychiatric drug development with emerging biotechnology companies.  Dr. Pickar served as Chair of the Tenure and Promotion Committee in Intramural NIMH.  Dr. Pickar has received numerous honors and awards in his career, including the Judith Silver Memorial Young Scientist Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the AE Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the Meritorious Service Medal for Exemplary Performance of Duty from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has served as NIMH Consultant to the U.S. Secret Service and on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.  Dr. Pickar has served as psychiatric consultant to the US Special Prosecutor.Dr. Pickar was founder and President of Gabriel Sciences, a company whose mission is advancing the development of a novel treatment for schizophrenia.  Dr. Pickar was also co-founder of Comprehensive Neuroscience, Inc a clinical trials and medical communication company where he served as a Director, Executive Vice-President and Chief Science Officer.  He is a Principal of Vigilant Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Pickar has authored or co-authored over 350 publications with over 29,000 citations, an h-index of 88 and i10-Index of 264 (Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Edz0eLcAAAAJ