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Jason Tucciarone, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology)

BioJason Tucciarone, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. A neuroscientist and psychiatrist, he leads a laboratory focused on uncovering the biological mechanisms of mental illness and developing novel therapies for mood disorders and addiction. His research centers on defining new cell types and evolutionarily conserved neural circuits involved in emotional processing, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic entry points. Using optogenetic, chemogenetic, neuroimaging, and behavioral approaches in mouse models of addiction, his lab investigates vulnerable brain circuitry underlying opioid use disorder. He also works and collaborates with the Depression Research Clinic, participating in academic and industry sponsored clinical trials investigating novel antidepressant therapies.

Clinically, Dr. Tucciarone works in Stanford’s Neuropsychiatry Clinic, where he treats patients with complex presentations at the interface of psychiatry and neurology, with particular interest in functional neurological disorders. He also sees a small cohort of psychotherapy patients in the Individual Psychotherapy Clinic and works shifts on Stanford’s inpatient psychiatry units.

Dr. Tucciarone completed his psychiatry training through Stanford’s Research Residency Track, where he conducted postdoctoral research under the supervision of Drs. Robert Malenka and Alan Schatzberg. During residency, his research examined neural circuits recruited during opioid withdrawal and explored strategies to enhance the anti-suicidal effects of ketamine through μ-opioid receptor partial agonism.

He received his bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy from Union College, followed by three years as a Post-Baccalaureate IRTA fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, where he developed MRI-reportable contrast agents to map neuronal connectivity. He then entered the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at Stony Brook University, completing his PhD in neuroscience under the mentorship of Dr. Josh Huang at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His doctoral work used mouse genetic approaches to dissect excitatory and inhibitory cortical circuits, with a focus on chandelier interneurons in the prefrontal cortex.

In addition to his research and clinical work, Dr. Tucciarone is deeply committed to teaching and mentorship. During residency, he helped restructure neuroscience education for trainees and currently teaches introductory lectures on the neuroscience of addiction, PTSD, psychosis, and mood disorders. He leads resident group supervision in introductory psychodynamic psychotherapy and supervises undergraduates, medical students, residents, and clinical fellows in psychiatry clinics.