John H. Krystal, MD
Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research; Chair, Department of Psychiatry; Chief of Psychiatry, Yale-New Haven Hospital; Director: NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism; Director, Clinical Neuroscience Division, VA National Center for PTSD; Director, VA Alcohol Research Center; Medical Director, Schizophrenia Biological Research Center, DVA

Departments & Organizations
NIMH Research Training Program in Childhood-onset Neuropsychiatric DisordersDiabetes Endocrinology Research Center
Psychiatry: Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism | VA Alcohol Research Center | NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism | VA National Center for PTSD
Biography
Dr. Krystal is a leading expert in the areas of alcoholism, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorders. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, and molecular genetics to study the neurobiology and to develop novel treatments for these disorders.He serves on the National Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Advisory Council (NIAAA), the Department of Defense Psychological Health Advisory Committee, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and he is president-elect of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Dr. Krystal also edits the journal, Biological Psychiatry (impact factor: 8.926).
Education
- B.A., University of Chicago, 1980
- M.D., Yale University, 1984
Selected Publication
- Xie P, Kranzler HR, Krauthammer M, Cosgrove KP, Oslin D, Anton RF, Farrer LA, Picciotto MR, Krystal JH, Zhao H, Gelernter J. Rare nonsynonymous variants in alpha-4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene protect against nicotine dependence. Biol Psychiatry. 2011;70(6):528-36.
Latest Honor and Recognition
- Kempf Award for Contributions to Schizophrenia Research through Research and Mentorship (06/2005), American Psychiatric Association
Articles

March 2012
Psychiatry chair is president of leading brain and behavior society
John H. Krystal, M.D., the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research, chair of the School of Medicine’s...

Sept/Oct 2011
Another side of ‘Dr. Ruth’ seen in session on resilience after trauma
Ruth Westheimer, Ed.D., is best known as “Dr. Ruth,” the unabashed sex therapist who gained fame on radio and TV in the...
Sept/Oct 2011
Adding antipsychotics does little for PTSD
Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe anxiety disorder that can follow traumatic events,...

May/June 2011
A famously funny man backs Yale work on a deadly serious disease
For author, blogger, raconteur, and talk-show host Dick Cavett, when the topic is depression, it’s personal. Cavett had...

July/August 2010
A familiar voice speaks up for Alzheimer’s patients, research
It began with a sweatshirt. In December 2007, when Tony- and Emmy-Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce appeared on...

Sept/Oct 2009
Experts on mental illness, multiple sclerosis are newest chairs
Summer brought the appointment of two renowned physician–scientists as chairs of the School of Medicine’s departments...

Jan/Feb 2009
For faculty - past, present and future
In 1879, 23-year-old Robert McNeil, who had recently graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science,...

May/June 2008
Cartoonist’s work on wartime trauma garners an award
In April, cartoonist Garry Trudeau, of “Doonesbury” fame, received the annual Mental Health Research Advocacy Award...

Jan/Feb 2006
Yale, VA supporting troops on the home front
More than 1.2 million Americans have gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 2001, over a quarter of whom...



