Martin Picard, PhD

Martin Picard, PhD is the Herbert Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine (in Psychiatry and Neurology). Dr. Picard received his BSc Honours in neuroimmunology at McGill University where he remained for his graduate work in mitochondrial biology of aging. Dr. Picard then moved to the University of Pennsylvania for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine with Doug Wallace. There, he worked on mitochondria-mitochondria interactions, mitochondrial reprogramming of the nuclear (epi)genome, and mitochondrial stress pathophysiology along with Bruce McEwen. In 2015, he joined the faculty of Columbia University.

Dr. Picard’s translational research program investigates mechanisms of mitochondrial psychobiology. Investigators and trainees in the Mitochondrial Signaling Lab team combine genetic, cellular, imaging, and psychophysiology approaches to examine how psychosocial exposures impact mitochondrial structure and functions, and how energetic perturbations within mitochondria influence key brain-body processes involved in cognition, psychological stress reactivity, and resilience. Their work leverages computational and network approaches based on machine learning to capture molecular patterns of mitochondrial dysregulation across tissues, from organelle to organism.