Dr. Anantha Shekhar on the Convergence of Psychiatry, Neurology, and the Next Era of Brain Medicine

🧠 Reuniting Psychiatry and Neurology: Dr. Anantha Shekhar

Understanding Brain Circuits, Plasticity, and the Next Era of Mental Health Innovation | Power to the Patients Podcast

🎙️ Guest: Dr. Anantha Shekhar, Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

“The more we understand the brain, the less we should separate neurology from psychiatry.” – Dr. Anantha Shekhar

👋 Episode Overview

In this episode, Brandon Li speaks with Dr. Anantha Shekhar, a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and biotech founder whose work bridges academic discovery and clinical translation. Dr. Shekhar reflects on how his personal connection to schizophrenia shaped a career spent closing the gap between brain science and patient care. They discuss the convergence of psychiatry and neurology, the emerging science of neuroplasticity and circuit-level interventions, and what it takes to design psychiatric trials that deliver meaningful, reproducible results. From the development of xanomeline—the first novel mechanism for schizophrenia in over 70 years—to his vision for AI-driven diagnostics and synthetic biology, Dr. Shekhar offers a roadmap for the next era of brain medicine.

🧭 Top Takeaways

✅ Psychiatry and neurology are reuniting through advances in imaging, molecular neuroscience, and AI.
✅ Brain disorders share cellular and circuit-level mechanisms—psychiatric and neurological symptoms exist on a continuum.
✅ Drugs like ketamine and psychedelics reveal new insights into neuroplasticity, but translation demands rigor and restraint.
✅ Clinical trial simplicity and fidelity are critical—overly complex designs can bury true signals.
✅ The future of psychiatry lies in computational neuroscience, objective biomarkers, and reimagined training for clinicians.

🔑 Key Topics Covered

Guest Background

• Dr. Shekhar’s early exposure to schizophrenia in his family inspired his lifelong pursuit of understanding the human brain.
• His journey from clinician-scientist to biotech entrepreneur and academic leader at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Problem He’s Solving

• Psychiatry’s reliance on subjective measures and symptom scales limits progress.
• Neurology and psychiatry became artificially divided due to early technological limits.
• Translation from lab discoveries to patient treatments remains painfully slow.

His Innovation or Contribution

• Led the development of xanomeline, a first-in-class muscarinic agonist for schizophrenia—now one of the field’s most promising new therapies.
• Advocates for a unified neuroscience framework that integrates molecular biology, computation, and clinical care.
• Pushing for education reform so psychiatrists become practicing neuroscientists who understand circuitry, data, and systems-level mechanisms.

Challenges & Barriers

• Psychiatric trials often fail due to inconsistent patient selection and subjective endpoints.
• Scientific advisory boards can overcomplicate trial protocols—simplicity and focus are key.
• The brain remains a “locked box”: measuring its signals and circuits still requires more refined tools.

Vision for the Future

• Psychiatry and neurology will fully converge within decades, forming a single continuum of brain medicine.
• AI will unlock brain-signal interpretation and enable objective biomarkers for mood and psychotic disorders.
• Synthetic biology and cellular reprogramming could one day address disorders like bipolar at the mitochondrial level.
• Future clinicians will combine behavioral insight with computational literacy—bridging empathy and engineering.

💬 Speaker Spotlights

On the convergence of psychiatry and neurology:‍

“We’re realizing that emotions, thoughts, and physical movement all come from the same circuits. The distinction between psychiatry and neurology is artificial.”

On neuroplasticity and new treatments:

“Ketamine and psychedelics are crude first steps. They’ve opened the door to understanding how the brain rewires itself—and how we might do it more precisely.”

On clinical trial design:

“In psychiatry, less is more. Don’t overload a study with 10 questions. Prove the drug works first—then explore the rest.”

On AI and biomarkers:

“We’ll soon have circuit-level signatures for mental illness, thanks to AI’s ability to process the massive data we can’t yet interpret.”

On the future of training:

“We need psychiatrists and neurologists who are fluent in neuroscience—practicing clinicians who can think like data scientists.”

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode

👉 Spotify
👉 Apple Podcasts

💡 Keep Exploring

Subscribe to Power to the Patients for more conversations at the intersection of neuroscience, innovation, and patient impact.
Learn more about Dr. Anantha Shekhar’s work on psychiatric drug development and the future of neuroscience-driven medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

‍