Gregory Elmer

Gregory Elmer is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on neurocircuitry underlying mental health disorders, particularly the habenula's role in reward processing, addiction, and depression. He has pioneered the 'Pattern Array' strategy for drug discovery and investigates the impact of early-life trauma on neurocircuitry.

Education: B.S. Psychology (University of Colorado, Boulder, 1982), Ph.D. Pharmacology (University of Maryland, 1990), Postdoctoral training in Behavioral Pharmacology at NIDA/NIH (1990–1993).

Research highlights include identifying the habenula's role in incentive salience attribution and its involvement in depression/anhedonia. Current work explores trauma-induced neurocircuitry changes in the habenula-RMTg pathway and their link to adult psychiatric disorders. His drug discovery work uses behavioral pattern analysis to predict psychiatric drug efficacy.

Notable publications span neural circuitry, addiction neurobiology, and translational psychopharmacology. His work has advanced understanding of opioid tolerance mechanisms and miRNA roles in addiction. Active in NIH review panels and policy discussions on opioid abuse.