Scott Russo, PhD

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Scott Russo is a renowned neurobiologist and Professor in the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and The Friedman Brain Institute where he directs the Center for Affective Neuroscience. Dr. Russo joined Mount Sinai as an Assistant Professor in 2008, where he rapidly developed a world class research program, and is now internationally recognized for his contributions to understanding the neural and immunological basis of neuropsychiatric disorders. His translational studies of the immune system in depression have changed the way we think about mental illness providing detailed mechanisms by which disturbances in peripheral immunity led to changes in complex behavior. He has also dissected the circuitry in the brain that controls abnormal social behaviors — including aggression and violence — leading to new perspectives on social dysfunction in people with neuropsychiatric illness.

Dr. Russo has been very prolific over the past decade, having published in journals such as Nature, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Science, Nature Medicine, and Nature Neuroscience. His work is frequently cited in the field and featured in the popular press. He has been listed as a “highly cited researcher” in the field of neuroscience by Clarivate analytics since 2015.

Dr. Russo has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of his work, including being named a Kavli National Academy of Science Frontiers Fellow in 2009, receiving the Johnson and Johnson/International Mental Health Research Organization Rising Star Translational Research Award in 2011, being elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2016 and receiving the Daniel H. Efron Award for Basic Science in 2019.

In addition to his own research program, Dr. Russo has played a major role in building the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience. The Center for Affective Neuroscience, which he directs, has recruited world class researchers and serves as the intellectual hub at Mount Sinai for research on the neural circuitry of emotional behavior.