Bio

Dr. Bradley Miller is an Assistant Professor is the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is a principle investigator in the Kang Miller lab and also a practicing psychiatrist focused on depression and anxiety. Brad attended New York University as an undergraduate and received the Sherrington Award for his work on synaptic plasticity. He then completed the MD/PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis where he received the O’Leary Award for his research. As a graduate student working with Aaron DiAntonio and Jeffrey Milbrandt, he discovered a signaling pathway that drives axonal degeneration, an important component of diverse neuropathologies including neurodegeration, axonal injury, and chemotherapy induced axonal damage. This work led to new treatment approaches for axonal degeneration.

Brad then joined Columbia University for clinical training in the psychiatry residency program. He subsequently completed a Postdoctoral T32 Research Fellowship in Affective Disorders under the mentorship of René Hen. He then joined the faculty in the Columbia Department of Psychiatry after receiving a K08 from the National Institutes of Mental Health. At Columbia, Brad’s has focused on the pathophysiology of mood disorders and the mechanisms of treatment. To determine the function of the serotonergic system, he undertook a large scale in vivo imaging study of serotonergic neurons during emotional behaviors. This revealed that serotonergic neurons have highly heterogeneous response profiles, and as a whole the serotonergic system responds to emotionally salient stimuli (both positive and negative). Brad was also part of a large collaborative effort to identify rare human mutations that increase the risk for depression. He is now studying the circuit effects of these mutations using mouse models. Brad’s lab now uses a variety of in vivo imaging and circuit manipulation approaches to investigate the pathophysiology of depression and Alzheimer’s disease. His work has been recognized and supported by a BBRF NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and the NIMH.