Gil Hoftman, MD PhD

Dr. Gil Hoftman recently joined the UCLA Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Division as a Health Sciences Clinical Instructor. He also joined the NIMH T32 Neurobehavioral Genetics Postdoctoral Fellowship Program directed by Nelson Freimer and under the primary mentorship of Carrie Bearden. His goal is to become an independent investigator leading an innovative and prolific research program studying the molecular mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, with an emphasis on understanding the cell and circuit specific developmental trajectories of these key molecular components. The underlying motivation for studying the development and dysfunction of cognitive control in schizophrenia is to improve patients’ lives by identifying biologically informed, innovative approaches to treat cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia and by ideally preventing or delaying the premorbid developmental lag in cognitive control and the onset of psychosis in people with schizophrenia. In particular, he is passionate about understanding complex brain disorders like schizophrenia by using integrative, complementary approaches. One strategy for understanding the pathophysiology of a multifaceted syndrome like schizophrenia is to study the normal development of affected brain circuitry central to the disorder. At UCLA, he plans to pursue studies of both typical and pathological neurodevelopment by leveraging novel, integrative neurobehavioral genetics and neuroimaging approaches.