Principal Investigator
Steven E. 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 E. 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 is the Harald McPike Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard where he directs the Broad Program in Brain Health. He is principal investigator of the Psychiatric Biomarkers Network (PBN), a multisite academic-industry consortium discovering fluid biomarkers for schizophrenia-bipolar spectrum disorders and creating a repository for sharing data and samples.
From 2001 to 2011 Hyman served as Harvard University Provost (chief academic officer) with a special focus on building interdisciplinary collaborations, including internationally. From 1996 to 2001 he was Director of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) where he modernized its research portfolio, emphasizing neuroscience, emerging genomic technologies, and initiating a series of large pragmatic clinical 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, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) where he chaired the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders (2012-2018), served on the NAM governing Council (2012-2018) and on the governing board of the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016-2019). He chairs the Boards of Directors of the Charles A. Dana Foundation (NY) and the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering (Geneva, Switzerland). In the private sector he is a Director of Voyager Therapeutics and Vesalius Therapeutics, and a founder of Emugen Therapeutics. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of J&J Innovative Medicines and F-Prime Capital. He received his BA, summa cum laude, from Yale, an MA from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Mellon fellow studying History and Philosophy of Science, and an MD, 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.