Alexander Neumeister, M.D.
Dr. Alexander Neumeister completed his medical school at the University of Vienna in Austria, where he did his residency training in Psychiatry and Neurology from 1991-1998 in the Department of Psychiatry. He was a research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1996-1997. After this fellowship, Dr. Neumeister returned to the University of Vienna, where he became Associate Professor in 1999, a position he held until he has moved back to Bethesda to join the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program from March 2001 to June 2004. He was recruited to join the Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in the rank of an Associate Professor of Psychiatry starting July 2004 and was appointed Director of the Molecular Imaging Program of the Clinical Neurosciences Division of the National Center of PTSD (NCPTSD). In 2008 he was appointed Deputy Director of Research of the NCPTSD.Dr. Neumeister’s research aims to better understanding of the environmental and genetic contributions to the etiology of stress related disorders with a focus on mood and anxiety disorders as well as addiction disorders. Brain imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) provides novel insight into brain mechanisms underlying these disorders. In collaboration with the Yale PET Center, Dr. Neumeister and colleagues study brain mechanisms which contribute in an important manner to the function of brain regions which play a critical role in the development of alcohol dependence, PTSD and depression. His studies aim to provide a new understanding of the impact of stress on brain function, with the ultimate goal to stimulate a better means of prevention and treatment. His research has been published in the leading scientific journals of the field, and Dr. Neumeister was awarded national and international awards for his work.