Ronald Stanton Duman (February 6, 1954 – February 1, 2020) was a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology Director, Division of Molecular Psychiatry and Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at Yale University.

Education

Duman graduated from the College of William & Mary (where he played varsity football as a middle linebacker) in 1976. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in 1985.

Career

Ron Duman's research centered around the biological mechanisms behind

antidepressant Antidepressants are a class of medication used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain conditions, and to help manage addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, hea ...

s. In his landmark 1995 paper, he discovered that antidepressants increase the

gene expression Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...

of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or ( BDNF) in the hippocampus. In a later paper he discovered that the downstream effect of BDNF is to increase

neurogenesis Neurogenesis is the process by which nervous system cells, the neurons, are produced by neural stem cells (NSCs). It occurs in all species of animals except the porifera (sponges) and placozoans. Types of NSCs include neuroepithelial cells (NECs) ...

or the formation of new

neurons A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...

in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. The results of this work led him to formulate the hypothesis that depression is caused by a decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis caused by elevated

cortisol Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones. When used as a medication, it is known as hydrocortisone. It is produced in many animals, mainly by the ''zona fasciculata'' of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland ...

levels.

Death

Ronald Duman died on February 1, 2020, at the age of 65 while hiking in Guilford, Connecticut.Ronald S. Duman, PhD, Pioneering Neuroscientist of Stress, Depression, and Antidepressant Treatment Dies at 65
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Notes

1954 births 2020 deaths American neuroscientists American psychiatrists People from Ebensburg, Pennsylvania Scientists from Pennsylvania University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston alumni William & Mary Tribe football players Yale School of Medicine faculty Members of the National Academy of Medicine {{US-psychiatrist-stub