Frederick Hitti

Frederick Hitti, M.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in functional neurosurgery for movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dystonia) and developing therapies for treatment-resistant depression. His research integrates gene therapy, electrophysiology, and behavioral assays to understand brain circuitry. He joined UT Southwestern in 2022 after completing neurosurgery residency and postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Education: M.D./Ph.D. from Columbia University; neurosurgery residency at University of Pennsylvania; functional neurosurgery fellowship and postdoctoral research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Research focuses on novel therapies for treatment-resistant depression, leveraging animal models and human neuroimaging. The Hitti Lab investigates brain circuits mediating antidepressant resistance, aiming to develop targeted interventions. Key techniques include optogenetics, chemogenetics, and stereotactic surgery.

His publications span deep brain stimulation efficacy, gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, and neurosurgical outcomes for epilepsy and spinal trauma. Notable work includes meta-analyses on DBS effectiveness for depression and technical reports on focused ultrasound thalamotomy in complex cases.