Speaker Bio – May 14 meeting of the Committee on Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults

DAVID A. MRAZEK, MD, is the Chair of Department of Psychiatry and Psychology and the Director of the S. C. Johnson Genomics of Addictions Program at the Mayo Clinic. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Dr. Mrazek currently serves as a Director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and as the Vice Chairman of the Residency Review Committee in Psychiatry. He is also the Chair of the Council on Children, Adolescents, and Families of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Mrazek received his B.A. cum laude from Cornell University and his M.D. from Wake Forest University. He did his residency in psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati and completed his child psychiatry fellowship at the University of Colorado. He subsequently became a Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and then returned to the United States to join the faculty at the University of Colorado Medical Center where he received two consecutive Research Career Development Awards from the NIMH. Dr. Mrazek then became the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and joined the faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine where he ultimately became the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Leon Yochelson Professor of Psychiatry. His primary research interest has been the study of genetic influences on developmental psychopathology. He has been particularly focused on how the modification of gene expression may ultimately lead to the prevention of both physical and psychiatric illnesses. His current interests include the clinical implementation of psychiatric pharmacogenomic research. His research is currently funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and a grant from the Johnson Family Foundation. Dr. Mrazek has authored over 200 publications in the field of psychiatry.