Chadi Calarge

Chadi Calarge, M.D. is a Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and leads the Calarge Lab affiliated with Texas Children’s Hospital and the Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics and Autism. His research focuses on the biological basis of mental illness in children and adolescents, particularly examining interactions between mental health and physical outcomes, such as growth patterns, bone health, metabolic changes, and gut-brain axis dynamics.

Research Themes:

• Psychiatric medication effects on growth hormone signaling and longitudinal growth
• Role of iron deficiency and gut permeability in internalizing disorders
• Genetic moderators of antipsychotic and SSRI side effects
• Microbiome and inflammatory markers in adolescent depression
• Metformin as an adjunct for antipsychotic-induced metabolic issues

Key Publications (2015-2024) span psychopharmacology, developmental neuroscience, and pediatric psychiatry, with recurring themes of

• growth inhibition from SSRIs and antipsychotics
• iron deficiency as a biomarker in psychiatric disorders
• microbiome alterations linked to mental health
• genetic risk factors for medication side effects
• metabolic monitoring standards in youth psychiatric care