Sunny weather and great access to hiking trails weren’t the only factors luring Diego Pizzagalli to UC Irvine this year after more than two decades at Harvard University – but they helped. “I went swimming my first weekend here, in early January,” he says, laughing.

As founding director of the Noel Drury, M.D. Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries, Pizzagalli is excited about the collaborative environment at UC Irvine. “This can-do attitude is very palpable and clear,” he says. “I’m impressed by the university; it’s been a very collegial and supportive atmosphere. The institute combining three schools – medicine, biological sciences and engineering – is very unique. I believe a high level of interdisciplinary research is essential for us as a society to make progress toward a better understanding of and treatment for depression.”

The institute is made possible by a $55 million donation from Audrey Steele Bernand that was specifically earmarked for research into the causes and treatment of depression – Pizzagalli’s passion. He led a depression institute with more than 50 scientists and staff at Harvard, worked on National Institutes of Health projects and has won many awards. After studying the brain and depression for over 20 years, Pizzagalli’s team recently began relying on artificial intelligence to develop approaches that could be used to tailor treatments for depression and is eager to expand upon this at UC Irvine.

“In my specific field, we use neuroimaging like MRIs and PET scans,” says Pizzagalli, Distinguished Professor of psychiatry and human behavior as well as neurobiology and behavior. “This generates enormous amounts of data. We’ve been using AI for many years to make sense of those data, and we can also use machine learning to identify biomarkers and find patterns.”

He compares the work to the evolution of cancer care: Clinicians can now assess specific information and individualize treatment programs. In one study, his team found that certain levels of brain activation predicted a positive response to a specific antidepressant. Figuring this out early will prevent the need to switch drugs regularly in a trial-and-error manner that might lead patients to give up on seeking care. “That’s the type of research that can make a difference in people’s lives,” Pizzagalli says. “That’s the personalized treatment we’re working on, and it’s one of the top priorities of the institute.”

He also wants to focus on training and education: “I’m very passionate about mentorship. I really love it and think it’s important, especially as we see many people leaving science.”

For those who want to learn more about Pizzagalli and depression research, he will be the featured speaker in the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences’ Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series on March 18 in the UC Irvine Student Center. In his presentation, Pizzagalli will summarize the main risk factors for depression and give other examples of how findings in neuroscience have been harnessed to develop novel treatment approaches for this prevalent disorder.

Helping young people is something Pizzagalli emphasizes, pointing out that 30 to 40 percent of children who have parents with depression will go on to develop it themselves. “We will study these at-risk youth,” he says. “Wouldn’t it be important and wonderful if we could prevent depression in the first place? We can work on sleep hygiene, food and exercise, which is a significant stress buffer and has antidepressant qualities.”

Pizzagalli’s sense of obligation to the community is clear: “It’s our duty to inform the public about depression and what might cause it.” His biggest message? Don’t suffer alone. “It’s not that your personality is a problem. It’s a disease,” he says. “It’s not your fault, and for most people, there are very efficient treatments.”

If you want to learn more about supporting this or other activities at UC Irvine, please visit the Brilliant Future website. Publicly launched on Oct. 4, 2019, the Brilliant Future campaign aims to raise awareness and support for UC Irvine. By engaging 75,000 alumni and garnering $2 billion in philanthropic investment, UC Irvine seeks to reach new heights of excellence in student success, health and wellness, research and more.