Profile

Bita Moghaddam is Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatry at OHSU. She was the Chair of the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU from 2016-2020, and the Ruth Matarazzo Professor 2016-2024.   She received a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas and postdoctoral training in pharmacology at Yale University. She joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University in 1990 where she quickly rose to the rank of full professor. In 2003 she moved to the University of Pittsburgh as professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry before joining OHSU. Her research has been funded continuously since 1991, including a MERIT award from the National Institute of Mental Health  and is distinguished by the substantial impact on the field (H-index 84, overall citations ~ 25,000). She is the author of KETAMINE (MIT press) and has edited SCHIZOPHRENIA: Evolution and Synthesis. She has trained over 30 pre- and postdoctoral scientists. In recognition of her research and mentoring contributions, she has received many prestigious national and international awards including ACNP’s Daniel H Efron Award, CINP’s Paul Janssen Award, and most recently the Dolores Shockley Award. She is the incoming elected Chair of the ALBA network, an international organization devoted to promoting equity in brain sciences.

Research Overview

Brain illnesses that affect cognition and emotion are the most prevalent and the most devastating of human disorders. Whether it is a chronic disease such as schizophrenia or transient bouts of anxiety and panic attacks, they influence every aspect of an individual’s life and produce enduring personal anguish and hardship to family. New treatments for these conditions are contingent upon research breakthroughs that explain the neuronal processes that support cognition and emotion. By increasing our basic understanding of how these processes work, we can identify genetic or environmental causes that disrupt them. It is then that we can find cures or prevention strategies for these disorders.

We use a systems neuroscience approach to study "dynamic" brain mechanisms that maintain cognitive and emotional functions in key brain regions that are implicated in illnesses such as schizophrenia, ADHD, anxiety, and addictive disorders. Our primary focus is on prefrontal cortex subregions and dopamine neurons in the midbrain. New directions include characterization of these neuronal systems during adolescence. The onset of symptoms for most psychiatric disorders is during adolescence; therefore, understanding what goes awry in this developmental period is critical for defining the neuronal basis of the disease process and designing strategies that prevent the onset of symptoms.

 Examples of Recent Papers 

Torrado Pacheco A, Olson R, Gaza G, Moghaddam B (2023) Acute psilocybin enhances cognitive flexibility in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology, 48:1011

Bogachuk A. P., Jacobs D. J., Moghaddam B. (2024) Impact of supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids after maternal dietary deficiency on adolescent anxiety and microglial morphology. Behavioral Neuroscience 138:353

McCane  AM, Kronheim L, Torrado Pacheco A Moghaddam B (2024) Adolescents engage the orbitofrontal-striatal pathway differently than adults during impulsive actions, Scientific Reports, 14(10): 8605

Jacobs D.S., Bogachuk A.P., Moghaddam B., (2024), Effects of Psilocybin on uncertain punishment learning, Neurobiology Learning Mem, 213:107954

Jacobs D.S., Bogachuk A.P., Moghaddam B., (2024) Complementary roles of orbitofrontal and prelimbic cortices in adaptation of reward motivated actions to learned anxiety. Biological Psychiatry 96:727

Torrado Pacheco A, Moghaddam B, Licit use of illicit drugs for treating depression: The Pill or The Process (2024) J Clinical Invest, 134(12):e180217

Lefner M, Moghaddam B (2025) Flexible updating of reward and punishment contingencies by VTA GABA neurons (2025) Current Biology 35: 3973

(complete list https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=WNB2KvkAAAAJ&view_op=li…?

Selected  Recent Media Coverage

KCRW, 23 Apr 2022, “Psychedelic spirituality: Ketamine and the future of mental health.” listen here

The Nation, 23 Mar 2022, “Breaking Off My Chemical Romance.” view article

This is Critical, 22 Jan 2021, “Is Ketamine all it’s cracked up to be?” listen here

SFN Neuronline, Jan 2021, “How One Scientist Stays Focused in the Face of Prejudice.” view article

The MIT Press Podcast, 21 Sept 2020, “Pharmacological Histories Ep. 3 Bita Moghaddam on Ketamine.” listen here

CNN Health, 4 June 2020, “How to make good decisions when you’re paralyzed by the stress of protests and the pandemic.” view article 

Science Daily, 2 April 2019, “Dopamine conducts prefrontal cortex ensembles: Study reports novel ways that dopamine cells influence the function of prefrontal cortex of the brain.” view article