Jordan W. Smoller, MD, ScD
"With the Partners Biobank, we hope to create a large research sample and data repository that will be an engine for new discoveries. The Partners Biobank will contain blood samples that are linked with health, lifestyle, and family history information. This biobank will be used by different types of researchers from Partners and elsewhere who are studying the causes of common diseases. My own research is aimed at understanding the roles that genes and experience play in mental health and mental illness. Conditions like depression, autism, schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress disorder are among the leading causes of disability and suffering worldwide. And with the unique resource that the biobank provides, we hope to improve treatment for these conditions and provide new ways to personalize treatment so that we can find the best treatment for each person- Jordan W. Smoller
Dr. Jordan W. Smoller is Co-Investigator for the Partners Biobank, Associate Chief for Research of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Psychiatry, and Director of Psychiatric Genetics at MGH. He is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
- 1983, AB (summa cum laude), Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University
- 1992, MD (cum laude with honors in a special field), Harvard Medical School
- 1997, MS, Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
- 2001, ScD, Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Smoller is Director of the Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit in the MGH Center for Human Genetics Research. He also serves as co-director of the Genetics and Genomics Unit of the MGH Clinical Research Program, is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute and a Senior Scientist at the Broad’s Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. The focus of Dr. Smoller’s research interests has been the identification of genetic determinants of childhood and adult psychiatric disorders. Dr. Smoller and colleagues have also been studying genetic predictors of treatment response and the ways in which advances in genetics may impact clinical practice in psychiatry. He is an author of more than 200 scientific articles, book chapters and reviews; the recipient of numerous research awards; and a principal investigator on NIH-funded studies of the genetics of anxiety and the genetics of bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia as well as brain imaging phenotypes. He is also the author of The Other Side of Normal (HarperCollins/William Morrow, 2012).
- Ferreira MA, O'Donovan MC, Meng YA, Jones IR, Ruderfer DM, Jones L, Fan J, Kirov G, Perlis RH, Green EK, Smoller JW, et al Collaborative genome-wide association analysis supports a role for ANK3 and CACNA1C in bipolar disorder. Nat Genet 2008 Sep;40(9):1042-4. PMCID: PMC2703780
- Psychiatric GWAS Consortium Bipolar Disorder Working Group. Large-scale genome-wide association analysis of bipolar disorder identifies a new susceptibility locus near ODZ4. Nat Genet. 2011 Sep 18;43(10):977-83. PMID: 21926972
- Stein JL, Medland SE, Vasquez AA… Smoller JW, Wardlaw JM, Weale ME, Martin NG, Franke B, Wright MJ, Thompson PM. Identification of common variants associated with human hippocampal and intracranial volumes. Nat Genet. 2012 Apr 15; 44(5):552-61. PMID: 22504417
- Holmes AJ, Lee PH, Hollinshead M, Bakst L, Roffman JL, Smoller JW*, Randy L. Buckner RL*. Individual differences in amygdala-medial prefrontal anatomy link negative affect, impaired social functioning, and polygenic depression risk. J Neurosci. 2012 Dec 12;32(50):18087-100. PMID: 23238724
- Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Identification of risk loci with shared effects on five major psychiatric disorders: a genome-wide analysis. Lancet. 2013 Apr 20;381(9875):1371-9. PMID: 23453885
- Solovieff N, Cotsapas C, Lee PH, Purcell SM, and Smoller JW. Pleiotropy in complex traits: challenges and strategies. Nat Rev Genet. 2013 Jul;14(7):483-495. doi: 10.1038/nrg3461. Epub 2013 Jun 11. PMID: 23752797
- Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Lee SH, Ripke S, Neale BM, …Smoller JW, Kendler KS, Wray NR. Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs. Nat Genet. 2013 Aug 28;45(9):984-94. doi: 10.1038/ng.2711. Epub 2013 Aug 11. PMID: 23933821
- Smoller JW. Disorders and borders: psychiatric genetics and nosology. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2013 Oct;162(7):559-78. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32174. PMID: 24132891
- Smoller JW, Gallagher PJ, Duncan LE,…Cohen BM. The human ortholog of acid-sensing ion channel gene ASIC1a is associated with panic disorder and amygdala structure and function. Biol Psychiatry, 2014 Jan 18. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.12.018. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 24529281
- View more of Dr. Smoller’s publications on PubMed
- 2002: Young Investigator Award, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- 2006: Gerald L. Klerman Honorable Mention National Award, Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- 2009-13: Best Doctors in America, Best Doctors
- 2012: Research Mentorship Award, Department of Psychiatry, MGH
- 2013: “Clinical Research Day” Award, MGH
- 2014: Research Scholar, MGH