Brendon Watson, MD, PhD

Brendon Watson, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry and a physician-scientist with an interest in both basic neuroscience and translational neuroscience. His expertise is in how neural networks influence behavior, perception, and mood. His lab focuses on how sleep, circadian rhythms, stress, and social factors affect mood-related circuits. Clinically, he is now a practicing general psychiatrist at the University of Michigan, specializing in treatment-refractory depression with an emphasis on trauma and personality influences on depression.

Dr. Watson completed his Ph.D. with Dr. Rafael Yuste, studying cortical microcircuit dynamics using calcium imaging at Columbia University. He went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. György Buzsaki, studying cortical circuits in sleep and wake cycles of freely behaving animals using silicon probes at New York University. Dr. Watson obtained his M.D. from Columbia University and completed his psychiatry residency at Cornell University Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Impact of chronic stress on brain circuits
Mechanisms of depression
Role of sleep in regulation of cortical circuits.
Role of Antidepressant treatments and their effects on neural circuits and behavior
(animals) or symptoms (patients).
Mechanisms of cerebral cortical function and regulation.

Clinical interests:
Major depressive disorder – treatment refractory depression
Anxiety Disorders
Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Chronic Stress
Emergency psychiatry