Colleen A. McClung, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science
Director of the Center for Adolescent Reward, Rhythms and Sleep
Translational Neuroscience program and Center for Neuroscience
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Colleen McClung is a Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Director of the NIDA-funded NIH Center for Adolescent Reward, Rhythms and Sleep (CARRS). Dr. McClung’s research program focuses on the role of circadian rhythms in developing and treating psychiatric disorders. Her work has utilized rodent models, cell culture work, and human postmortem tissue to define how circadian genes regulate mood, reward, motivation, anxiety, and other phenotypes associated with bipolar disorder and other psychiatric disorders. She was the first to describe manic-like behaviors in mice with a mutation in the Clock gene, a central component of the circadian clock. These studies have helped us understand the strong relationship between disrupted circadian rhythms and bipolar disorder. Moreover, she has collaborated with multiple pharmaceutical companies, performing preclinical studies to test novel treatments for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Some of these compounds are currently in clinical trials. Her more recent work in the human postmortem brain in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder has identified specific molecular rhythm changes that will help us develop more targeted therapies. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, The IMHRO (One Mind)/Johnson & Johnson Rising Star Award. She is an elected member of the ACNP Council.