Diego A. Pizzagalli is a Swiss neuroscientist, the Founding Director of the Noel Drury, M.D. Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior & Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and the Noel Drury MD Endowed Chair at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

. He is also a Visiting Professor at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Pizzagalli is best known for his expertise on the

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

anhedonia Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researcher ...

and depression. For more than 20 years, he has devoted himself to improving our understanding of the causes, consequences, and pathophysiology of depression, paving the way towards the identification of biomarkers of depression and treatment response.

Education

Pizzagalli received his M.S. in Psychology in 1995 and Ph.D. in Psychology in 1998 from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in affective neuroscience with

Richard J. Davidson Richard J. Davidson (born December 12, 1951) is an American psychologist and professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds and the affiliated non-prof ...

at the

University of Wisconsin, Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, where he used

neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...

approaches (e.g.,

electroencephalogram Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neoc ...

positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, r ...

) to identify neural markers associated with different symptom profiles and treatment response in major depression.

Career

From 2002 to 2010, Pizzagalli was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he served as the John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences. In 2010, Pizzagalli joined McLean Hospital, Massachusetts to serve as the Founding Director of the Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research (CDASR). At McLean Hospital, Pizzagalli was also the Director of the McLean Imaging Center (MIC), the Director of Research for the Division of Depression & Anxiety Disorders, the Director of the McLean Conte Center for the Neurobiology of Approach-Avoidance Decision Making, and the Director of the Laboratory for Affective and Translational Neuroscience. In addition, he served as a Professor of Psychiatry at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

and held the position of Director of a Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic Translational Mental Health Research. Funded through a five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), this center is dedicated to studying the neurobiology of depression and anxiety disorders and identifying new treatment targets. He served as Scientific Advisor on the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). In 2021, he was named the Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience (CABN). He joined Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) in 2013 and joined the Board in 2024. In January 2025, Pizzagalli joined the

, serving as the Founding Director of the Noel Drury, M.D. Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries. Spanning the School of Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, and the School of Engineering, the Institute will lead the way in bench-to-bedside research, focusing on improved treatment and prevention strategies.

Research

Pizzagalli's research is focused on three critical

endophenotype In genetic epidemiology, endophenotype (or intermediate phenotype) is a term used to separate behavioral symptoms into more stable phenotypes with a clear genetic connection. By seeing the EP notion as a special case of a larger collection of mul ...

s associated with depression: anhedonia, increased stress sensitivity, and executive function deficits. His studies use a wide range of methods, including behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroimaging approaches, as well as preclinical models. His latest research has uncovered clinical, behavioral, and neural markers that could assist in the selection of antidepressant treatments prior to the onset of the intervention, paving the way for prevention and personalized treatment. Investigating Neurobiology of Anhedonia Pizzagalli developed a laboratory-based measure of anhedonia – the Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT) – which has been used by hundreds of labs worldwide in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. More recently, he has co-developed versions of the PRT that are functionally identical for use in humans, non-human primates, rats and mice. This development accelerates cross-species translation and evaluation of novel treatment targets. Investigating Functional Neuroanatomy of Depression Utilizing a combination of neuroimaging methods, Pizzagalli's research indicates that distinct brain activation patterns correlate with individual variances in treatment response and specific depression phenotypes. These findings hold significance in the identification of individuals at increased risk for depression and the advancement of more effective depression treatments. Investigating Executive Dysfunction in Depression and At-Risk Individuals Pizzagalli's research reveals the association between the behavioral impairments in depression and an exaggerated, automatic neural response to errors, along with limited recruitment of brain regions responsible for cognitive control. His ongoing studies aim to evaluate the hypothesis that these dysfunctions might increase vulnerability to subsequent depressive episodes. Establishing Predictors of Treatment Response in Depression Pizzagalli's research demonstrates that pretreatment resting EEG activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex predicted therapeutic improvement 4–6 months later in individuals with depression. Currently, his team is investigating innovative behavioral and EEG markers to assess treatment response, potentially improving treatment selection and reducing the personal and socioeconomic challenges associated with the current trial-and-error approach

Awards and honors

* Christensen Fellowships, St Catherine's College, Oxford University, 2024 * Visiting Professor, Oxford University, 2023 * Gerald L. Klerman Senior Investigator Award, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), 2023 * Board Member, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2024 * Neuropsychopharmacology Editor's Award for a Review (NEAR), American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), 2023 * MERIT awards, the National Institute of Mental Health, 2016, 2022 * Editor-In-Chief, Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, since 2021 * Anna-Monika-Prize for Research in the Neurobiology and Treatment of Depressive Disorders, 2019 * Highly Cited Researcher, Web of Science, since 2019 * NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, 2017 * Scientific Advisor, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017 * Joel Elkes Research Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), 2017 * Stuart T. Hauser, M.D. PhD. Mentorship Award in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 2017 * Anne M. Cataldo Excellence in Mentoring Award, McLean Hospital, 2015 * Early Career Award, the EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society, 2007 * Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology, the Society for Psychophysiological Research, 2006

Personal life

Pizzagalli was born and raised in Mendrisio, Switzerland. He is married to a clinical psychologist and has two adult children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzagalli, Pizzagalli Neuroscientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people