Gerard Sanacora

Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, is a clinician‑scientist based at Yale School of Medicine who trained in an NIH‑sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at SUNY Stony Brook, earning both MD and PhD degrees. His work bridges translational neurobiology and rigorous clinical trials, with a sustained focus on mood disorders and the development of rapid‑acting antidepressant treatments.

Sanacora has led and co‑authored multiple influential clinical studies of intravenous ketamine for treatment‑resistant depression, including randomized, placebo‑controlled dose‑frequency trials, analyses of acute psychoactive and dissociative effects, trials examining predictors (such as anxious versus non‑anxious subtypes), and efforts to combine psychotherapeutic strategies (for example, cognitive behavioural therapy) to extend ketamine's antidepressant benefits. He has also contributed to pilot studies of enantiomer‑specific compounds (arketamine) and comparative effectiveness research (e.g. ketamine versus ECT). Beyond ketamine, Sanacora has participated in cross‑cutting consensus statements and methodological guidance for clinical research in psychedelic medicine and has co‑authored work related to single‑dose psilocybin trials, reflecting his broader engagement with the evolving field of psychedelic therapeutics. His research integrates clinical trials, neurobiological mechanisms—particularly glutamatergic signalling—and biomarker and neuroimaging approaches to understand and optimise rapid‑onset interventions for depression.