Our Researchers & Mental Health Experts

Scott T. Aaronson, MD, is Chief Science Officer for the Institute for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has been responsible for developing a research program dedicated to the development of medications and devices devoted towards alleviating the burden of severe psychiatric illness across the spectrum of psychiatric disorders. He is Principal Investigator for studies in various phases and presentations of affective illness and anxiety disorders. Most of his work in recent years has been related to the use of neurostimulation modalities such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Vagus Nerve Stimulation and the use of psychedelic assisted therapy.   His recent studies include first clinical experience of the use of psychedelics in bipolar type II depression and in chronic active suicidal depression.

Dr. Aaronson earned his medical degree with honors from Harvard Medical School in Boston and completed a residency in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, a Distinguished Life Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, the Clinical TMS Society and the American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology. He currently serves on the Board of the American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Research Topics

Drug and device development for difficult to treat mood and anxiety disorders

Use of psychedelics across the spectrum of psychiatric illness

Faith Dickerson, PhD, MPH is a clinical psychologist with public health research training. She heads the Stanley Research Program at Sheppard Pratt and leads initiatives on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and first episode psychosis. Dr Dickerson’s work focuses on the role of infectious and immune factors in the etiopathology and clinical symptoms of persons with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses; trials of adjunctive immune modulatory agents; and the determinants of premature mortality and suicide in serious mental illness. She has also performed studies on the role of neurocognition in the social functioning of persons with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and has led interventions to promote tobacco cessation as a way to reduce premature mortality in this population. She is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her research has been funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute; the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation; the National Institutes of Health; and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She has more than 250 research publications and makes presentations at national and international research meetings. She collaborates closely with other research groups including the Johns Hopkins Stanley Neurovirology Program, The ALACRITY Center at Johns Hopkins, and the Early Psychosis Network (EPINET) hub at the University of Maryland. She is a member of the American College for Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 2011 received The Gerald E. Hogarty Excellence in Schizophrenia Research Memorial Award.

Research Topics

Schizophrenia

Bipolar Disorder

Major Depression

Health Behaviors in Serious Mental Illness

Persons without any current or past psychiatric disorder