Alan Schatzberg


Alan F. Schatzberg is an American psychiatrist. He was the 136th president of the American Psychiatric Association. Since 1991, he has been the Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and he was chair of the department from 1991 to 2010. He has received multiple national and international awards for his work as an investigator in the biology and treatment of depression. He is also the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Psychiatric Research, along with Florian Holsboer.

Controversy

In 2008, Business Week reported that Senator Charles Grassley, as part of a Congressional inquiry, said that Schatzberg, while chair of psychiatry at Stanford's medical school, had under-reported his investments in Corcept Therapeutics, a company he founded. Grassley stated that Schatzberg had reported only $100,000+ investments in Corcept, but Schatzberg's investments actually totaled over $6 million. Stanford University indicated in correspondence to Grassley that it was "fully aware of the extent of Dr. Schatzberg's stake in Corcept Therapeutics" and that Dr. Schatzberg had "consistently disclosed on his annual conflict-of-interest forms his ownership of equity in Corcept Therapeutics in excess of $100,000." Schatzberg voluntarily and temporarily stepped down as principal investigator from a related grant, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. He was later reinstated as PI.