Eric LenzeHead of Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine
Profile
Dr. Lenze is Professor and Head of Psychiatry and Director of the Healthy Mind Lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Dr. Lenze trained at WashU for medical school and residency, finishing in 1998. He then completed a geriatric psychiatry fellowship and a research fellowship at University of Pittsburgh, and then served on faculty there until returning to WUSM in 2007.
In the past 25 years, Dr. Lenze conducted clinical trials testing interventions for depression, anxiety, and cognitive disorders in older adults. He has also focused on innovative methods for clinical trials, including precision medicine and fully-remote strategies. Many of his studies have been featured in JAMA, the Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine, including his pioneering study of fluvoxamine for the early treatment of COVID-19 in 2020, his study of mindfulness and exercise in 2022, and the OPTIMUM trial in treatment-resistant depression in older adults in 2023. Several of his recent trials, including the fluvoxamine study for COVID-19, have used fully-remote methods.
In 2022, Dr. Lenze was chosen to become Head of the WashU department of Psychiatry, overseeing a department of approximately 140 faculty. He continues in his research and clinical roles as well.