Bernard Lerer is a psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist and neuroscientist in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a founder of Biological Psychiatry in Israel, Founding Editor of the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology and mentor of many prominent clinicians and researchers over several decades. He is Director of the National Knowledge Center for Research on Brain Disorders at Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel and a Professor of Psychiatry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A key leader in the field of psychopharmacology in Israel, Lerer served as Director of the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel from 1994-2002 and shaped its development as a major funding source for young and intermediate researchers in biological psychiatry and psychopharmacology.
On his return to Israel Lerer took over the leadership of the Research Laboratory at Ezrath Nashim Hospital in Jerusalem from 1984–1990. In 1990 he moved to Hadassah Medical Center and founded the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory which he headed until 2020. In 2013 he and Prof. Hanna Rosenmann founded the National Knowledge Center for Research on Brain Disorders at Hadassah Medical Center, a unique resource center supported by the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology, and became its first Director.
Scientific research
According to Google Scholar, Lerer has an h-index of 77, with 25,848 citations. He has published 385 papers indexed in Pubmed, as well as 4 books. Bernard Lerer's research spans a wide spectrum from preclinical laboratory studies through translational research to clinical trials. His principal research focus has been on the molecular genetic basis of major psychiatric disorders, pharmacogenomics of psychotropic drugs and the neurochemical mechanisms of antidepressants, mood stabilizers and brain stimulation as a basis for novel drug development. • In the field of genetics, he led studies that identified association of the Abelson Helper Insertion 1 gene with schizophrenia and identified key mechanisms potentially underlying this association in a mouse model. • He was an active and early contributor to the field of pharmacogenetics of psychiatric disorders and published one of the first books on the subject. In this area he has extensively studied factors underlying susceptibility to tardive dyskinesia and nicotine addiction. • He has played a central role in the scientific and clinical development of electroconvulsive therapy. His earlier studies on basic mechanisms of ECT earned him the A.E. Bennet Award of the US Society for Biological Psychiatry. • His extensive studies on treatment of major depressive disorder with thyroid hormone include a comprehensive evaluation of the antidepressant effects of triiodothyronine in mice and a randomized clinical trial demonstrating efficacy of T3 when combined with sertraline in depressed patients. Lerer's research has been supported by national and international agencies including the Israel Science Foundation, the US-Israel and German-Israeli Binational Science Foundations, the National Institute for Mental Health, the European Union and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. He holds granted US and European patents for novel type III deiodinase inhibitors in the treatment of major depressive disorder and cancer and for the use of RGS2 genotypes to predict extrapyramidal symptoms associated with antipsychotic medication.
Leadership positions
• Co-founder of the Israel Society for Biological Psychiatry and Chair. • Academic Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. • Director, National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Currently member of the Board of Trustees and Scientific Advisory Committee. • Vice President of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum . • Founding Editor of the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, official scientific journal of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum and Editor in Chief.
Awards and honors
A.E. Bennet Research Award for Basic Science of the US Society for Biological Psychiatry, 1984.
Werner Kalow Responsible Innovation Prize in Global Omics and Personalized Medicine, 2014.
New Horizons in Biological Psychiatry – International Conference to mark the 70th Birthday of Professor Bernard Lerer, 2018.
