Ronald Duman
Born
Ronald Stanton Duman

(1954-02-06)February 6, 1954
DiedFebruary 1, 2020(2020-02-01) (aged 65)
Alma materCollege of William & Mary
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
OccupationNeuroscientist

Ronald Stanton Duman (February 6, 1954 – February 1, 2020)[1] was a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology Director, Division of Molecular Psychiatry and Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at Yale University.[2]

Education

Duman graduated from the College of William & Mary (where he played varsity football as a middle linebacker) in 1976. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in 1985.

Career

Ron Duman's research centered around the biological mechanisms behind antidepressants. In his landmark 1995 paper, he discovered that antidepressants increase the gene expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or (BDNF)[3] in the hippocampus. In a later paper he discovered that the downstream effect of BDNF is to increase neurogenesis or the formation of new neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.[4]

The results of this work led him to formulate the hypothesis that depression is caused by a decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis caused by elevated cortisol levels.

Death

Ronald Duman died on February 1, 2020, at the age of 65 while hiking in Guilford, Connecticut.[5]

Notes

  1. "Ronald Stanton Duman, PhD (Obituary)". The Tribune-Democrat. February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  2. Duman's Yale Faculty Website Archived 3 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Pramanick, D.; Forstová, J.; Pivec, L. (1976). "First paper demonstrating the link between antidepressants and BDNF levels". FEBS Letters. 62 (1): 81–84. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(76)80021-x. PMID 2505. S2CID 20044419. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  4. Abstract of paper demonstrating that antidepressants increase neurogenesis Archived 10 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Ronald S. Duman, PhD, Pioneering Neuroscientist of Stress, Depression, and Antidepressant Treatment Dies at 65


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