Irwin Lucki

Irwin Lucki, Ph.D. is currently Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Molecular Therapeutics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Lucki received his Ph.D. (Biopsychology) from the University of Iowa in 1979. After completing postdoctoral training in psychopharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979-1982, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology in 1984 and remained at the University of Pennsylvania throughout his career as a researcher and educator until 2016. He was the Program Director of the Training Program in Neuropsychopharmacology, one of the longest standing interdisciplinary training programs for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows supported by the NIMH. The major focus of Dr. Lucki’s ongoing research is the investigation of neural mechanisms underlying the behavioral effects of psychiatric medications and the development of new therapeutic approaches using animal models of psychiatric disorders. Research in his laboratory focuses on the pharmacological effects of antidepressants and antianxiety drugs. Approaches in his laboratory include: behavioral neuropharmacology, the use of genetically altered mice to study deficiencies of specific receptors, synthetic enzymes or signaling molecules in the serotonin system, the use of behavioral genetics to identify genes associated with abnormal behaviors or pharmacogenetic predispostion for antidepressant drugs, neural mechanisms associated with stress vulnerability and resilience, and the involvement of neurogenesis and brain neurotrophins in the effects of chronic antidepressant treatments. His research led to the development of vilazodone as an FDA-approved clinical antidepressant and support for investigating buprenorphine for treatment-resistant depression. He is currently investigating the effects of ketamine and its metabolite 2R,6R-hydroxynorketamine as antidepressant and analgesic drugs. He has consulted on numerous projects in the pharmaceutical industry and directed a U01 grant on drug discovery with industry partners. He has also conducted clinical pharmacology research studies with psychiatric patients and normal volunteers. Dr. Lucki is author of over 170 peer-reviewed publications and 40 reviews. He received the Young Psychopharmacologist Award from the American Psychological Association (1984), the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Teaching (1997), the MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) from the NIMH (1988), and the Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD (2005). Dr. Lucki is on the Editorial Boards for Neuropsychopharmacology, Journal of Psychopharmacology and Neurobiology of Stress and was a Principal Editor for Psychopharmacology. Dr. Lucki is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and the American Psychological Association (APA, Division 28).