John Krystal ’84 MD, P ’17

Dr. Krystal is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and professor of psychiatry, of neuroscience, and of psychology; chair of the Department of Psychiatry; and chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

He is a leading expert in the areas of alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study the neurobiology and treatment of these disorders. He is best known for leading the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients.

Krystal is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. He also serves in a variety of advisory and review capacities for the National Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Advisory Council (NIAAA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Wellcome Trust, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Broad Institute, the Karolinska Institutet, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Krystal previously served on the NIAAA, the Department of Defense Psychological Health Advisory Committee, the NIMH Advisory Council, and the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors (chair, 2005–2007). He has led the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (president, 2012), and International College of Neuropsychophamacology (president, 2016–2018).

Currently, he is co-chair of the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders (NeuroForum) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and he edits the journal Biological Psychiatry (impact factor: 13.382).