Speaker Biography

He is directly involved in teaching, research, and patient care. He graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas in 1972 and completed a medical internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He completed a research fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and a Psychiatry residency at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Swann recently completed a term on the National Advisory Council on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse and has served on grant review boards for NIH and the Veterans Administration, where he was Chair of the Merit Review Board on Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences. He is a co-founder, and is president-elect, of the International Society for Research on Impulsivity. Dr. Swann is part of a group that integrates treatment with basic and clinical research in mood disorders. His research support has included the NIMH, NIAAA, and the American Heart Institute. Clinical research focuses on treatment of affective disorders, especially prediction of treatment response and development of more objective measures of disease severity, its underlying behavioral mechanisms, and its change during treatment. Preclinical human research concerns the neurobiology of behavior, such as impulsivity and motivation, which may be basic to bipolar disorder and its most severe complications. Basic research focuses on pharmacological and developmental aspects of behavioral sensitization to stimulants and other potential models for recurrence in affective disorders. His work has resulted in over 250 refereed publications, plus reviews and book chapters. He teaches medical students, residents, graduate students, and other trainees and has been awarded the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Residents’ teaching awards.