Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Brennan received a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and later received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2000. After completing an internship in internal medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital he went on to do his residency training in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. Following completion of his training he worked as an attending psychiatrist on the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder inpatient unit at McLean Hospital and later completed a two-year research fellowship in the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory. During this time he acquired extensive experience in the design and execution of clinical trials investigating novel treatments for a variety of psychiatric disorders including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. He later received a M.Sc. degree from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology through the Clinical Investigator Training Program. His primary research interest is in the development of novel pharmacologic treatments for mood disorders through the translation of basic science discoveries into human treatment trials and the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify biochemical biomarkers of treatment response. Specifically, his current interests include the investigation of glutamate-modulating drugs and mitochondrial enhancement treatments for bipolar disorder and the use of hormonal interventions including testosterone and DHEA in the treatment of refractory depression.