
J. John Mann is The Paul Janssen Professor of Translational Neuroscience (in Psychiatry and in Radiology) at Columbia University and Director, Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is a Past President of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the International Academy of Suicide Research and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Dr. Mann received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne, and then completed his internship and residency at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was trained in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine and has a Doctorate in Neurochemistry. His research employs functional brain imaging, neurochemistry and molecular genetics to probe the causes of depression and suicide. Dr. Mann has published over 794 peer-reviewed papers and edited 11 books on the subjects of the biology and treatment of mood disorders, suicidal behavior and other psychiatric disorders and has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1984. In private practice he specializes in the treatment of mood disorders and has been repeatedly named as America’s and New York Best Doctors by Castle Connolly.
Dr. Mann has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the American Suicide Foundation Research Award, the American Association of Suicidology Louis I. Dublin Award, the New York State Office of Mental Health Research Award, the Klerman Senior Investigator Award from the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association, the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry Medical Student Teaching Award, the Stengel Award from the International Association for Suicide Prevention, the Morselli Medal from the International Academy of Suicide Research and the Mood Disorders Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists. He is an Honorary Professor of the University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje, Macedonia. Dr. Mann is the Director of the NIMH Conte Center for Suicide Prevention and Leader of Project 3, PET Neuroimaging in Vivo in Mood Disorders and Suicidal Behavior.
Research Focus
Dr. Mann’s research employs functional brain imaging, neurochemistry and molecular genetics to probe the causes of depression and suicide.
He is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of the biology and treatment of mood disorders, suicidal behavior and other psychiatric disorders.
Select Publications
Neurobiology of suicidal behavior
1. van Heeringen, K., & Mann, J. J. (2014). The neurobiology of suicide. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(1), 63-72.
2. Pantazatos SP, Huang YY, Rosoklija GB, Dwork AJ, Arango V, Mann JJ. Whole-transcriptome brain expression and exon-usage profiling in major depression and suicide: evidence for altered glial, endothelial and ATPase activity. Mol Psychiatry. 2016 Aug 16 [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 27528462 PMC5313378
3. Yin H, Pantazatos SP, Galfalvy H, Huang YY, Rosoklija GB, Dwork AJ, Burke A, Arango V, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. A pilot integrative genomics study of GABA and glutamate neurotransmitter systems in suicide, suicidal behavior, and major depressive disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2016 Feb 19;171(3):414-26. PMID: 26892569 PMC4851346
4. Sublette ME, Vaquero C, Baca-Garcia E, Pachano G, Huang YY, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. Lack of association of SNPs from the FADS1-FADS2 gene cluster with major depression or suicidal behavior. Psychiatr Genet. 2016 Apr;26(2):81-6. PMID: 26513616 PMC4764474
Positron emission tomography in mood disorders and suicidal behavior.
5. Sullivan GM, Oquendo MA, Milak M, Miller JM, Burke A, Ogden RT, Parsey RV, Mann JJ. Positron Emission Tomography quantification of serotonin1A receptor binding in suicide attempters with major depressive disorder. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015 Feb 1;72(2):169-178. PMID: 25549105 PMC4329977
6. Sublette ME, Milak MS, Hibbeln JR, Oquendo MA, Malone KM, Parsey RV, Mann JJ. Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and regional cerebral glucose metabolism in major depression. Prostaglandins Lukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2009; 80(1): 57-64. PMID: 19128951 PMC2712826
7. Parsey, R. V., Ogden, R. T., Miller, J. M., Tin, A., Hesselgrave, N., Goldstein, E., … & Oquendo, M. A. (2010). Higher serotonin 1A binding in a second major depression cohort: modeling and reference region considerations. Biological psychiatry, 68(2), 170-178. PMID: 20497898 PMCID: PMC2900398
8. Oquendo MA, Galfalvy H, Sullivan GM, Miller JM, Milak MM, Sublette ME, Cisneros-Trujillo S, Burke AK, Parsey RV, Mann JJ. Positron emission tomography imaging of the serotonergic system and prediction of risk and lethality of future suicidal behavior. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Oct 1;73(10):1048- 1055. PMID: 27463606
Stress and brain biology.
9. Sublette ME, Galfalvy H, Oquendo MA, Bart CP, Schneck N, Arango V, Mann JJ. Relationship ofrecent stress to amygdala volume in depressed and healthy adults. J Affect Disord. 2016 Oct; 203:136-142. PMID: 27288958
10. Zalsman G, Weller A, Shbiro L, Barzilay R, Gutman A, Weizman A, Mann JJ, Wasserman J,Wasserman D. Fiber tract analysis using diffusion tensor imaging reveals aberrant connectivity in a ratmodel of depression. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2016 July 7;1-9. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 27388597
11. Yin H, Galfalvy H, Pantazatos SP, Huang YY, Rosoklija GB, Dwork AJ, Burke A, Arango V, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ. Glucocorticoid receptor-related genes: genotype and brain gene expression relationships to suicide and major depressive disorder. Depress Anxiety. 2016 Jun; 33(6):531-40. PMID:27030168 PMC4889464
12. Melhem NM, Keilp JG, Porta G, Oquendo MA, Burke A, Stanley B, Cooper TB, Mann JJ, Brent DA. Blunted HPA axis activity in suicide attempters compared to those at high-risk for suicidal behavior.Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016;41(6):1447-56. PMID: 26450815 PMC4832012
Neuroinflammation, Mood Disorders and Suicide.
13. Liu JJ, Green P, John Mann J, Rapoport SI, Sublette ME. Pathways of polyunsaturated fatty acidutilization: implications for brain function in neuropsychiatric health and disease. Brain Res. 2015 Feb 9;1597:220-46. PMID: 25498862 PMC4339314
14. Haghighi F, Xin Y, Chanrion B, O’Donnell AH, Ge Y, Dwork AJ, Arango V, Mann JJ. Increased DNA methylation in the suicide brain. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2014 Sep;16(3):430-438 PMID: 25364291 PMC4214183
15. Schnieder TP, Trencevska I, Rosoklija G, Stankov A, Mann JJ, Smiley J, Dwork AJ. Microglia of prefrontal white matter in suicide. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2014;73(9):880-890. PMID: 25101704 PMC4141011
16. Beier AM, Lauritzen L, Galfalvy HC, Cooper TB, Oquendo MA, Grunebaum MF, Mann JJ, Sublette ME. Low plasma eicosapentaenoic acid levels are associated with elevated trait aggression and impulsivity in major depressive disorder with a history of comorbid substance use disorder.” Journal of Psychiatric Research (2014) 57:133-140. PMCID:PMC4204478