Leanne Williams

Dr. Leanne Williams is the inaugural Vincent V.C. Woo Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness at Stanford University School of Medicine. She serves as Associate Chair of Translational Neuroscience within the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and holds a joint appointment as Director of the Precision Medicine Core at the Palo Alto VA Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center. Previously, she was Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Director of the Brain Dynamics Center at Sydney Medical School.

Dr. Williams completed her PhD with a British Council Scholarship for study at Oxford University. Her academic journey reflects a deep commitment to advancing neuroscience and psychiatry through rigorous research and innovative approaches to mental health care.

Dr. Williams has pioneered a precision neuroscience approach for application in psychiatry, grounded in a taxonomy of biotypes for depression and anxiety. Her research integrates neuroimaging, behavioral, and clinical measures with computational approaches to refine and expand precision mental health. She focuses on understanding how circuit disruptions in the brain are shaped by early life experience, daily function, and genetic contributions. Her work spans multiple neural circuits including the default mode network, salience network, and cognitive control circuits, with applications for depression, anxiety, and attention disorders.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on translating neuroscience insights into clinical practice. Key trends include the development of brain circuit biomarkers for depression subtypes, investigation of novel treatments like ketamine and psilocybin, and the application of advanced computational models to personalize mental health care. Her work bridges multiple disciplines including psychiatry, neuroscience, genetics, and artificial intelligence to create a more precise understanding of mental disorders.

Dr. Williams has received numerous prestigious awards including:

• The Perry Award (2025)
• Educator Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry (2023)
• Chairman's Senior Faculty Mentor Award from Stanford School of Medicine (2023)
• Best Female Scientist Award (top 1000 worldwide, 2022-2024)
• Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2017)
• Ernst Strüngmann Award (2012)

Dr. Williams mentors numerous students and researchers, serving as Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor for Jeesung Ahn, Ellie Beam, and Liangfang Li, and as Doctoral Dissertation Advisor for Divya Rajasekharan. Her research programs are supported by significant funding from the National Institutes of Health, including an $18 million grant to diagnose and treat depression. She has published over 388 scientific papers and authored the first book on Precision Psychiatry, demonstrating her leadership in translating research into practical clinical applications.

Dr. Williams directs the PanLab for Personalized and Translational Neuroscience within the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness. She leads multiple research initiatives including the ACE-D project (Accelerating Cognition-guided signatures to Enhance translation in Depression), which aims to develop personalized tools based on individual brain patterns for 4,500 participants. Her BRAINnet initiative creates a collaborative human clinical neuroscience network, and she serves on multiple scientific advisory boards advancing precision mental health approaches globally.