About

Lawrence H. Price is a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He received his B.S. with highest honors in psychology and high distinction from the University of Michigan in 1974, followed by an M.D. in 1978. After completing an internship in internal medicine at Norwalk Hospital, he completed a residency and fellowship in psychiatry at Yale University. From 1982 to 1996, he was on the faculty at Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry, serving as Associate Professor and Director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Since 1996, he has been a faculty member at Brown University. He has held leadership roles at Butler Hospital, including Clinical Director, Director of Research, Chair of the Institutional Review Board, and Chief Medical Officer. Currently, he is President of Butler Hospital and Executive Chief of the Brain and Behavioral Health Service Line of Care New England. Dr. Price has been recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the top ten authors of high-impact papers in psychiatry from 1990 to 1999. His research focuses on neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders, with particular attention to the effects of early adversity, treatment mechanisms, and neurobiological markers such as telomere length and mitochondrial DNA copy number. In addition to his research, he has received numerous awards for teaching and clinical work, and he serves as editor for the Brown University Psychopharmacology Update and the Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Genetics
• Biology
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• The demise of metformin and the rise of the GLP‐1 agonists

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2026-02-23

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Climate change and psychopharmacology

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-06-02

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Psychedelics and psychosis: Quantifying the risk

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-01-29

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Just over a year ago, I somewhat reluctantly weighed in on the implications for psychiatry of the resurgent interest in psychedelic drugs (Price, 2024). In contrast to the “psychedelic era” of the 1960s and 1970s, this time public interest in these compounds has been accompanied by skillful politico‐legal advocacy and systematic research. Both of those endeavors require high levels of funding, and both private philanthropic and for‐profit pharmaceutical entities have, for better or worse, stepped in.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Suicidality and psychotropic drugs: Another perspective

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-08-04 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Antidepressant discontinuation: Skepticism and science

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-10-10

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Toward precision psychiatry

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-11-28

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The frustrating disconnect between genetics and psychopharmacology

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2025-03-27 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Numerous criteria are utilized in selecting articles for coverage in the Update , and those criteria have evolved over time along with the field of psychopharmacology itself. For example, we've been covering an increasing number of papers comparing pharmacotherapy with neuromodulation over the past few years, as more high‐quality studies have begun to address that issue. In contrast, our overall coverage of papers examining pharmacokinetics has declined compared with the early years of the Update (although we continue to highlight that topic in our monthly Drug‐Drug Interactions column), as the larger field has tended to move on from this issue.

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• Amphetamine: still psychotogenic after all these years

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2024-11-26 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  A few years ago, I found myself evaluating a clinic patient whose chief complaint was poor concentration, which he maintained was so severe that he could not even hold down a menial job. Fortunately, he was happy to provide me with his diagnosis (“ADHD”) and knew exactly which medication would eliminate his symptoms: amphetamine (I'm using the term broadly here to encompass the numerous pharmaceutical preparations of this drug that are currently available).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• More pandemic reverberations: Focus on stimulants

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2024-06-04

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Much ado about montelukast: A side‐effects saga

  The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update · 2024-03-29

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Our coverage of emerging findings in psychopharmacology is generally limited to what gets published in the refereed scientific literature. Occasionally, however, something appears in the lay media that we think Update readers will benefit from knowing about. A recent such “something” was an article published in the New York Times under the alarming title “The F.D.A. [Food and Drug Administration] Warned an Asthma Drug Could Induce Despair. Many Were Never Told” (Jewett & Mueller, 2024). Broad coverage of this by other media outlets ensued.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K08MH000579

  NIH · $193k · 1990

• NIH Grant R01DA009330

  NIH · $714k · 2000

• NIH Grant R01AT001742

  NIH · $1.0M · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• Seiya Miyamoto

  5101 shared

• MacDonald J. Christie

  University of Sydney

  4627 shared

• Kim Wolff

  King's College London

  4464 shared

• Martine Cador

  Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine

  3235 shared

• Malcolm Lader

  3048 shared

• Robert L. Balster

  3010 shared

• Kim Fromme

  The University of Texas at Austin

  2995 shared

• Amee B. Patel

  Syneos Health (United States)

  2994 shared

Education

• B.S., Psychology

  University of Michigan

  1974

• M.D.

  University of Michigan

  1978

Awards & honors

• Top ten authors of high-impact papers in psychiatry by Insti…