Dennis S. Charney, MD
From pioneering interdisciplinary research centers to dramatically increasing National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, his impact on the institution and the field of neuroscience is profound and enduring. Dr. Charney, who also served as President for Academic Affairs, will remain a vital part of the Mount Sinai community as a faculty member. (Nearly 1,000 guests celebrated his leadership at the 40th Annual Crystal Party.)
A preeminent leader in neurobiology, Dr. Charney made fundamental contributions to the understanding of human anxiety, fear, depression, and resilience. Having played a key role in the discovery of new treatments for mood and anxiety disorders, he was named one of the 2025 TIME100 most influential people in health for his breakthrough treatments for depression. The Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment at Mount Sinai is being renamed in honor of his many achievements.
Dr. Charney’s vision was to elevate the School of Medicine from good to great by aggressively recruiting top talent and investing in high-quality research. Under his leadership, Mount Sinai’s school of medicine attracted brilliant faculty across biomedical sciences, computational biology, and information technology. NIH research funding tripled, reaching $501.7 million in federal fiscal year 2025, ranking Mount Sinai No. 11 among medical schools for grant funding in the United States and placing it in the 99th percentile for research funding per principal investigator among U.S. private medical schools.
“I have never known any dean at any school at any time in history who has had such a positive, transformative impact,” says Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, who has succeeded Dr. Charney as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkrantz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is the newly named Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Nestler became the inaugural Director of The Friedman Brain Institute in 2008 and served in that position until 2025.