Alexander Bystritsky, MD, PhD

Professor Alexander Bystritsky, M.D., Ph.D. graduated from Pavlov Medical Institute (currently Pavlov Medical University) in St. Petersburg, Russia (former Soviet Union) with M.D. degree in 1977 and then his Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1979. In 1976 his paper won the Gold Medal for the Best Student Scientific Paper and Maria Petrova National Award in Neuroscience.

After he arrived to New York, he worked for one year as an Associate Researcher in the NYU Department of Psychiatry prior his admission to the NYU-Belleview residency program in Psychiatry. He completed his residency in 1985 and moved to UCLA as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Bystritsky has been on the UCLA Faculty since 1987. He is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles where he directs the Anxiety Disorders Program and Targeted Brain Stimulation Program. Dr. Bystritsky published over 240 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and short publications and has served as the PI and Co-PI on several NIH, foundations and industry sponsored grants. Over the years, he earned several honors and awards including OCD Foundation Research Award and Brain and Behavior Distinguished Investigator Award. He is also listed in the Best Doctors in America for the last 20 years. For several years, he was a Visiting Professor and a collaborator with Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts investigating Focused Ultrasound Pulsation effects on brain using fMRI. He has authored several patents on image-guided neuromodulation of brain neurons using Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound Pulsation (LIFUP). His current area of interest is neuroimaging guided brain stimulation. He the director of collaborative Targeted Brain Stimulation clinical and research program on image-guided DBS, rTMS, LIFUP and other neuromodulation techniques in Anxiety Disorders with the department of Neurosurgery at UCLA. He is Executive Director of Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is Founder and CEO Brainsonix Corporation, a start-up company producing LIFUP/MR compatible devices for research.

Position Title: CEO Brainsonix, Professor Emeritus UCLA

Education/Training:

A. Personal Statement
Currently, as the CEO of Brainsonix and Executive Director of Tiny Blue Dot Foundation my goal facilitate creation and bring to public new and most advanced instruments to study the brain from translational adaptation to the early stage prototyping and finally to full commercialization. I am focused on software and hardware that will help us to target neuronal circuits non-invasively in conjunction with modern imaging techniques. We hope to use this software and devices for better diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric and neurological conditions. We also will use these techniques to increase our understanding how brain works and how it creates and modifies consciousness.

1. Bystritsky, A, Korb, AS. (2015). A Review of Low-Intensity Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Clinical Applications. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 2, 60-66.
2. Korb AS, Shellock FG, Cohen MS, Bystritsky A (2014). Low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation device used during magnetic resonance imaging: evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging-related heating at 3 Tesla/128 MHz. Neuromodulation, 17(3): 236-41;
3. Bystritsky A, Korb AS, Douglas PK, Cohen MS, Melega WP, Mulgaonkar AP, Desalles A, Min BK, Yoo SS (2011) A review of low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation. Brain Stimul 4:125-136.
4. Monti MM, Schnakers C, Korb AS, Bystritsky A, Vespa PM. (2016). Non-Invasive Ultrasonic Thalamic Stimulation in Disorders of Consciousness after Severe Brain Injury: A First-in-Man Report. Brain Stimul. Jul 22;

B. Positions and Honors

Honors and Awards:

1975 Best Student Research Paper Leningrad.

1976 Gold Medal for Best Student Research Paper in U.S.S.R.

1977 Maria Petrova Award - The Most Outstanding Young Scientist

1985 Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar

1994 Bristol Myers Distinguished Faculty

1994 Janssen Clinical Scholar                                                                

1998 - Best Doctors in America

1999 - Who is Who in the World

2001- Distinguished Life Fellow of APA

2005- OC Foundation Research Award

2009- Brain and Behavior Foundation Distinguished Investigator Award

2014- Life Fellow of ASCP

Employment:

1980 – 1981         Assistant Research Scientist, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY

1985 – 1987         Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

1991 – 2007         Director, Partial Hospitalization Program for the Treatment Resistant Anxiety Disorder, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

1990 – Present      Attending Physician, UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

1987 – Present      Director, Anxiety Disorders Program, UCLA, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

1999 – Present      Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los Angeles, CA

2007 - Present      Director, Brainstimulation Laboratory and Deep Brain Stimulation Program, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA School of Medicine

2006 – Present      Founder, President and CEO, Brainsonix Corporation, Los Angeles, CA

2007 – Present      Saban Anxiety Treatment Evaluation Program, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,

                              UCLA School of Medicine

2008 -- 2011         Visiting Professor (at Full Professor Level) Neuroscience and Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard School of Medicine, Boston, Mass

2015 --                  Co-Founder and Executive Director of Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, Los Angeles, California

C. Contributions to Science

a.     I participated in one of the largest collaborative effort in the US supported by NIMH on improvement of treatment of Anxiety using Collaborative Care model.

We developed techniques, methods, treatment techniques and instruments together with University of Washington, Rand Corporation and UCSD. These techniques and instruments are widely used in clinical practice and research on Anxiety.  

Roy-Byrne PP, Craske MG, Stein MB, Sullivan G, Bystritsky A, Katon W, Golinelli D, Sherbourne CD. A randomized effectiveness trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication for primary care panic disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Mar;62(3):290-8.

Bystritsky A, Wagner AW, Russo JE, Stein MB, Sherbourne CD, Craske MG, Roy-Byrne PP. Assessment of beliefs about psychotropic medication and psychotherapy: development of a measure for patients with anxiety disorders. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2005 Sep-Oct;27(5):313-8.

b.     I helped to develop computational theory of Anxiety. That is a departure usual categorical diagnosis into the field of computational dynamical approaches. On the basis of this research I developed ABC theory of anxiety that is currently used to study and treat anxiety. 

Rabinovich MI, Muezzinoglu MK, Strigo I, Bystritsky A. Dynamical principles of emotion-cognition interaction:        mathematical images of mental disorders. PLoS One.2010 Sep 21;5(9):e12547.

Bystritsky A, Nierenberg AA, Feusner JD, Rabinovich M. Computational non-linear dynamical     psychiatry: a new methodological paradigm for diagnosis and course of illness. J Psychiatr Res. 2012 Apr;46(4):428-35. Epub 2012 Jan 18.

c.      I first conducted experiments in fMRI guided targeted rTMS treatment of Anxiety. 

Bystritsky A, Pontillo D, Powers M, Sabb FW, Craske MG, Bookheimer SY. Functional MRI changes during panic anticipation and imagery exposure. Neuroreport. 2001 Dec 21;12(18):3953-7.

Bystritsky A, Kaplan JT, Feusner JD, Kerwin LE, Wadekar M, Burock M, Wu AD, Iacoboni M.  A preliminary study      of fMRI-guided rTMS in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;69(7):1092-8.

d.     In 2001 I invented and patented the use of Low Intensity Focused Pulse which is currently grew into a field of non-invasive neuromodulation using Focused Ultrasound. I co-authored key publication that moved the field ahead. 

Yoo SS, Bystritsky, A., Lee JH, Zhang Y, Fischer K,  Min BK,  McDannold NJ, Pascual-Leone A, Jolesz FA. (2011) Focused Ultrasound Modulates Region-specific Brain Activity. Neuroimage. 2011 Jun 1;56(3):1267-75. Epub 2011 Feb 24.

Bystritsky A, Korb AS, Douglas PK, Cohen MS, Melega WP, Mulgaonkar AP,DeSalles A, Min BK, Yoo SS. A review of low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation. Brain Stimul. 2011 Jul;4(3):125-36. Epub 2011 Apr 1.

D. Additional Information: Research Support and/or Scholastic Performance

Over my career I co-authored over 200 publication (book chapters and peer reviewed articles) and 8 patents. Over my career I received numerous awards and grants from NIMH, Foundations and Industry.

I have been PI and co-PI on over 40 grants and contracts.

I have salary support from Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, West Side Neuro-Therapeutics, CalNeuro Research Group and Brainsonix Corporation.