Peter C. Whybrow (born ) is an English psychiatrist and award-winning author whose primary research focus has been on understanding the metabolic role of

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...

hormones in the adult

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

and how to apply this knowledge to the treatment of

mood disorder A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...

, especially

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. He is Judson Braun Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences of the

David Geffen School of Medicine The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Education and career

Whybrow is a graduate of University College, and University College Hospital Medical School, London. He received his training in endocrinology and psychiatry in London and North Carolina and was a member of the scientific staff of the British Medical Research Council before migrating to America in the 1970s to join the faculty of

Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...

where he was chair of psychiatry and later executive dean of the medical school. In 1984 he was appointed the Ruth Meltzer Professor and chair of psychiatry at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Between 1997 and 2020 Whybrow served as executive chair of psychiatry, Director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and CEO of the Resnick Hospital at

. Whybrow is a founding member and Fellow of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health ...

, Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, the

American College of Psychiatrists The American College of Psychiatrists is an American association of psychiatrists based in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates ...

, and a Distinguished Fellow of the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

. An advisor to universities, foundations, and government agencies, Whybrow has also been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford, and a visiting fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford.

Academic contributions

Whybrow's primary research contribution has been to improve the understanding of the metabolic role of

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in the adult brain, and to apply that knowledge to investigation of the pathophysiology and clinical treatment of

, especially

. His extensive research has documented that some patients with affective illness may have a brain specific abnormality of thyroid metabolism that adversely modifies the expression of affective illness. Whybrow has pioneered the use of self-rating systems in mental illness together with Michael Bauer and Tasha Glenn. In the 1970s he developed the Chronorecor

which is an electronically based daily self-rating system through which patients may follow the course of their illness and recovery in accurate correlation with treatment intervention, thus facilitating long term therapeutic management. The Chronorecord has been translated into six languages and collaborative studies are ongoing in Germany, Canada, Australia and the UK. As an author Whybrow is best known for a trilogy of books exploring the impact of modern-day culture on human behavior. In 2005, he was awarded the Ken National Book Award by the

National Alliance on Mental Illness The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a United States-based nonprofit organization originally founded as a grassroots group by family members of people diagnosed with mental illness. NAMI identifies its mission as "providing advoca ...

and the Gradiva Award in 2006 by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis for his book, "American Mania." In 2008, he was awarded the Silver Ribbon Science Leadership Award by

NARSAD The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that funds mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It like ...

for his ''leadership and commitment in advancing research on mental illnesses''.

Bibliography

* Lipowski, Z. J., Lipsitt, D., Whybrow, P. C. (eds.) (1977) ''Psychosomatic Medicine: Current Trends and Clinical Applications''. Oxford University Press. * Whybrow, P. C., Akiskal, H., McKinney (1984) ''Mood Disorders: Toward a New Psychobiology''. W. J., Plenum Press, New York. * Whybrow, P. C. & Bahr, R. (1988) ''The Hibernation Response''. Arbor House, New York. * Whybrow, P. C. (1997) ''A Mood Apart: Depression, Mania, and Other Afflictions of the Self''. Harper Collins/Basic Books, New York. * Whybrow, P. C. (2005) ''American Mania: When More Is Not Enough''. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. * Whybrow, P. C. (2015) ''The Well-Tuned Brain''. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

References

External links

An Interview with Peter C. Whybrow on Charlie Rose Show - 19 mins videoPersonal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whybrow, Peter C. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American non-fiction writers Bipolar disorder researchers David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Dartmouth College faculty English psychiatrists American health care chief executives People from Plainfield, New Hampshire Member of the Mont Pelerin Society