DOST ONGUR, MD, PHD

Harvard title(s): Assistant Professor in Psychiatry
McLean title(s): Clinical Director, Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Program
Email: dongur@partners.org
Telephone: 617 855 3922
Fax: 617 855 2895
Office Address: AB320
Degree(s):
- 1992 B.A. Oberlin College
- 1994 M.S. in Neuroscience Yale University
- 2000 M.D., Ph.D. Washington University in St.Louis
Residency:
- 2001-2004 Resident in Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital/ McLean Hospital
Fellowship:
- 2000-2001 Medicine Internship Massachusetts General Hospital/Mt.Auburn Hospital
Board Certifications(s):
- 2002- Massachusetts Medical License Registration
- 2005- Board Certified in Adult Psychiatry
Clinical Interests:
I have an M.S. degree in Neuroscience from Yale University, after which I joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St.Louis where I obtained my M.D./Ph.D. degrees. For my Ph.D. work, I studied the neuroanatomy of the monkey and human orbitomedial prefrontal cortex in relation to visceral control and mood disorders in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Price. As part of this work, I described networks within the prefrontal cortex involved in processing multimodal sensory inputs for emotional salience and generating context-appropriate somatic and visceral reactions. I then proceeded to study the same brain areas in humans and reported for the first time that there is a reduction in glial cell number in the prefrontal cortex of patients with major depression and bipolar disorder. This original finding has since been independently replicated. The finding of glial cell changes in the brains of patients with mood disorders was novel at the time, but my work helped spark a literature which emphasizes cellular resilience and plasticity as crucial processes in mood disorders. I wrote a review article with my thesis advisor describing our findings and this paper has been cited over 200 times in the literature (D. Öngür and J.L. Price, 2000).

I obtained psychiatric residency training at the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry program (2000-2004) involving clinical care in emergency room, inpatient and outpatient settings. I published two review articles as well as two peer reviewed research papers during residency, studying comorbidity of OCD with schizophrenia under the mentorship of Dr. Don Goff, and anxiety disorders with MDD under the mentorship of Dr. Maurizio Fava. In addition, I contributed as an ad-hoc peer reviewer for leading journals, including the Archives of General Psychiatry and the American Journal of Psychiatry. I was also the Chief Resident at the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder program at McLean Hospital in my fourth year of residency where I organized a lecture series entitled "Neurobiology of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder" bringing to campus prominent speakers from outside MGH/McLean.

Since graduation from residency, I have been working on my research with the goal of developing an independent federally-funded research program focusing on neuroimaging in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (see Curriculum vitæ). In recognition of my contributions to the residency as a teacher, I have served as the Neuroscience Curriculum coordinator for the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry residency training program during this time. Finally, I provided attending coverage for 4-6 weeks out of the year on the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder inpatient unit at McLean Hospital, and was recently appointed Assistant Director there. I will become director of the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder program effective January 1^st, 2006. This position involves leading a 28 bed inpatient unit with 4 psychiatrists and associated staff, as well as supervising rotating junior residents.
Curriculum vitæ: (PDF format)