Jonathan Frederic Rest Flint

Jonathan Frederic Rest Flint is a Professor-in-Residence at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in both the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Department of Human Genetics. He holds the Billy and Audrey Wilder Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and Neuroscience. His research bridges genetics, psychiatry, and computational biology, focusing on the genetic architecture of mental health disorders, particularly major depressive disorder (MDD), and innovative methodologies for depression detection via speech analysis.

Flint has pioneered genetic association studies of MDD, exploring links between voice pitch and depression, and leveraged deep learning for phenotypic subtyping in biobank data. His work on speaker disentanglement addresses privacy-preserving depression detection, while studies on epigenetic stratification refine biomarkers in minoritized populations. He also investigates complementation testing to identify genes influencing fear-related behavior and dominance in mammalian gene expression.

Recent publications highlight his leadership in integrating genomic and behavioral data, including smartphone-based mood prediction and SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology. His scientific awards include the Wilder Endowed Chair, recognizing his contributions to psychiatric genetics and neuroscience. Flint’s work emphasizes translational applications, combining rodent models and human studies to unravel the molecular underpinnings of mental health.