Principal Investigator
Steven Hyman, M.D.
Steve Hyman directs the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, creating a bridge between HSCRB and the center. The Stanley Center focuses on psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and neurodegenerative disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s. In addition to being the Director of the Stanley Center, Steve is Principal Investigator of the Schizophrenia Spectrum Biomarkers consortium (SSBC), a fluid biomarkers study with multiple collection sites across the US and collaborations with industry. He has offices both at 7 Divinity Ave. on Harvard's main campus and at the Broad Institute.
Steven Hyman, M.D.
- Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Harald McPike Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
- Director
Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute - Core Institute Member
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard - Principal Faculty
Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Steven E. Hyman, M.D., is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Harald McPike Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where he directs the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. The Stanley Center engages in large-scale, globally conducted studies of neuropsychiatric genetics, stem cell biology, neurobiology, and technology development in support of translational efforts focused on reducing the global burden of psychiatric disorders.
From 2001 to 2011, Hyman served as provost (chief academic officer) of Harvard University, where he had a special focus on developing and supporting collaborative, interdisciplinary, and cross institutional efforts in the sciences, arts, and humanities. From 1996 to 2001, he served as director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he invested in neuroscience and emerging genomic technologies and initiated a series of large clinical effectiveness trials to inform practice.
He has served as editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience (2002-2016), founding president of the International Neuroethics Society (2008-2013), president of the Society for Neuroscience (2015), and president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2018). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). At the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine he has served on the NAM Council (2012-2018) and the governing board of the National Research Council (2016-2019), and chaired the National Academies’ Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders (2012-2018), which brings together industry, government, foundations, patient groups, and academia. He is currently a member of the Committee on Science, Technology, and the Law (CSTL). He chairs the boards of directors of the Charles A. Dana Foundation (NY) and the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering (Geneva, Switzerland), and is a director of Annual Reviews Inc (Palo Alto), a nonprofit scientific publisher. In the private sector he is a director of Voyager Therapeutics, Cyclerion Therapeutics, and Vesalius Therapeutics. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of Janssen Research and Development and F-Prime Capital. In 2016, he was awarded the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health by the National Academy of Medicine.
Hyman received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale College, an M.A. from the University of Cambridge, which he attended as a Mellon fellow studying history and philosophy of science, and an M.D., cum laude, from Harvard Medical School.
Overview
The mission of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute is to reduce the burden of serious mental illness through research. Using our ongoing discoveries of genetic variants associated with disease as a launch point, we are contributing to new understandings of pathogenic disease mechanisms, the identification of disease biomarkers, and above all, new treatments. Stanley Center Scientific Investigators are successfully working on these issues at the Broad Institute and partnerships with collaborators worldwide, scientists at the Stanley Center aim to develop diagnostics and treatments to help people with mental health conditions. Additionally, the Stanley Center launched the Stanley Global Neuropsychiatric Genetics Initiative (Stanley Global) in 2014, collaborating with research groups around the world to expand genetic sample collection across diverse worldwide populations, and established the Schizophrenia Spectrum Biomarkers Consortium (SSBC) in November 2018 with the goal of discovering robust, replicable quantitative fluid biomarkers for schizophrenia. Our research informs our understanding of the biology of psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and neurodegenerative disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s.
The Schizophrenia Spectrum Biomarkers Consortium (SSBC) was established in November 2018 with the goal of discovering robust, replicable quantitative fluid biomarkers to support clinical trials for Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs). The SSBC study launched in summer of 2021 at Mount Sinai Hospital (NYC), Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania / Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to enroll individuals early after onset of SSDs and healthy controls. The Stanley Center serves as the coordinating center. The SSBC is establishing a large biorepository from these individuals containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma, serum, frozen PBMCs, and DNA from individuals using highly standardized protocols and hosted by the Indiana University Genetics Biobank (IUGB). Aliquots of blood are preserved for RNA extraction and for generation of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines. The SSBC study also collects comprehensive phenotypic measures including complete clinical and cognitive assessments, and neuroimaging data (structural and resting state MRI). All samples and data are collected at a baseline visit and at 6-month intervals thereafter, and the study design incorporates plans for sharing samples, data, and analyses with the scientific community.