Yvette Sheline MD

Yvette Sheline, MD, is the McLure Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Research at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. She runs a center that uses neuroimaging to examine brain treatment effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and real time fMRI feedback to understand treatment outcome in major depression. A key aspect of her research is to translate cutting-edge research strategies into clinical treatment and to examine personalized treatment strategies. She is best known for her pioneering studies of hippocampal volume loss in major depression and the moderating effects of antidepressant treatment, work that is among the most cited in the psychiatric literature. This work was significant for several reasons. It demonstrated that depression was a brain disease, translating rodent studies of neurotoxicity into human illness and it demonstrated that this damage could be mitigated with protective effects of antidepressant treatment. She and her group went on to identify key cognitive and limbic brain circuit abnormalities in fMRI studies, demonstrating in clinical trials that this cognitive-limbic imbalance, including an overactive default mode network (DMN) is normalized by antidepressant treatment. This work has been used in subsequent studies as a successful target for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment of depression. She is also committed to mentoring junior faculty and has established a program in psychiatry “Grant preparation success” (GPS) to guide junior faculty towards obtaining a first R01 grant. Her work with patients has focused on understanding acute crisis and creating a treatment plan to address ongoing issues.