Depression

Depression

$131.7M Awarded to Depression Research since 1987

The Latest Research Discoveries

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Key Figures

332 million

Globally, an estimated 332 million people of all ages suffer from depression.*

21 million adults

In 2021, around 21 million adults age 18 or older in the U.S. experienced at least one major depressive episode in the prior year (8.3% of U.S. adults).*

Prevalence was higher among adult females (10.3%) compared to adult males (6.2%), and highest among adults aged 18-25 (18.6%).*

1 in 5

In 2021, about 5 million U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode (20.1% of the population aged 12 to 17).*

Prevalence was higher among adolescent females (29.2%) compared to males (11.5%).*

Meet a Researcher

Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D.

Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D.

Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D.

bbrf awards icon Title & Institution

Professor of Neuroscience, Brain and Mind Research Institute

Robert Michels, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry

Weill Cornell Medical College

bbrf awards icon BBRF Awards & Recognition

Scientific Council Member (Joined 2025)

2013 Young Investigator Grant

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Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. The long-term goals of his research are to define basic mechanisms by which prefrontal cortical brain circuits support learning, memory, and motivation, and to understand how these functions are disrupted in depression, OCD, and other neuropsychiatric disorders. His team is also developing neuroimaging technologies for informing psychiatric diagnosis in human populations and predicting treatment response to transcranial magnetic stimulation and other forms of therapeutic neuromodulation.

He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 2002, and received his PhD and MD from The Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medicine in 2007 and 2008, respectively. He subsequently completed his residency in psychiatry at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital and postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He returned to Weill Cornell as an Assistant Professor in 2014. His research has been recognized with awards from the Klingenstein-Simons Foundation Fund, the Rita Allen Foundation, the Dana Foundation, the One Mind Institute, the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Consortium, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, the Wellcome Leap Foundation, the Jeanne and Herbert Siegel Award for Outstanding Medical Research, the Thomas W. Salmon Award from the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Eva King Killam Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is also a clinically active psychiatrist specializing in the management of treatment-resistant mood disorders.

Probing and Rescuing Dysfunctional Brain Circuits in Depression

Ask an Expert

Joan L. Luby, M.D.

Joan L. Luby, M.D.

Joan L. Luby, M.D.

bbrf awards icon Title & Institution

Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry (Child)

Director and Founder, Early Emotional Development Program

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

bbrf awards icon BBRF Awards & Recognition

Scientific Council Member (Joined 2018)

2020 Ruane Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research

2008, 2004 Independent Investigator Grant

2004 Klerman Prize for Exceptional Clinical Research

1999 Young Investigator Grant

bbrf awards icon Bio

Dr. Joan Luby is the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry (Child) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is the founder and director of the Washington University School of Medicine Early Emotional Development Program (EEDP). Dr. Luby’s research has focused on the characterization of early childhood psychopathology, early behavioral and biological markers of risk, and associated alterations in brain and emotional development in early childhood. In addition her program of research has informed the influence of the psychosocial environment on brain development, sensitive periods for these effects and implications for risk and early intervention for mental disorders. Dr. Luby’s contributions include establishing the criteria for identification, validation and early intervention in depressive syndromes in the preschool age group as well as studies in humans showing the effect of parental nurturance and early experiences of poverty on brain development. She has also developed and tested an early psychotherapeutic intervention for preschool depression.

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