Charles Raison, MDVisiting Professor

Charles Raison, MD, is the Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Distinguished Chair for Healthy Minds, Children & Families and Professor, School of Human Ecology, and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, WI. Dr. Raison also serves as Director of Clinical and Translational Research for Usona Institute, as Director of Research on Spiritual Health for Emory Healthcare and as Visiting Professor in the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. In addition, Dr. Raison has served as mental health expert for CNN.com for many years and is the host of the “Health is Everything” podcast. Dr. Raison is internationally recognized for his studies examining novel mechanisms involved in the development and treatment of major depression and other stress-related emotional and physical conditions, as well as for his work examining the physical and behavioral effects of compassion training. More recently, Dr. Raison has taken a leadership role in the development of psychedelic medicines as potential treatments for major depression. The recipient of several teaching awards, Dr. Raison has received research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Raison received the Raymond Pearl Memorial Award from the Human Biology Association “in recognition of his contributions to our understanding of evolutionary biocultural origins of mental health and illness.” He was named one of the world’s most influential researchers by Web of Science for the decade of 2010-2019. With Vladimir Maletic he is the author of “The New Mind-Body Science of Depression” published by W.W. Norton in 2017. Dr. Raison serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

• MD, Washington University in St. Louis
• MA, University of Denver in English
• BA, Stanford University in Anthropology

• Parting The Clouds: Charles Raison On New Treatments For Depression, The Sun, February 2021
• Anxiety and Depression Relief, No Therapist Required, Discover Magazine, November 23, 2020
• COVID-19 tied to mental illness diagnoses, WKOW 27 News, November 14, 2020
• The relationship between inflammation and mental illnesses, Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, August 13, 2020
• Depression: An evolutionary perspective with Charles Raison, MD, Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network, May 25, 2020
• How saunas could boost your mental health, Outside Online, March 15, 2020
• Inflammation, saunas, and the new science of depression, Art of Manliness, February 17, 2020
• How psychedelic experiences might treat depression, To The Best of Our Knowledge, February 14, 2020
• Inflammation predicts response to anti-depression medication, Neuroscience News, January 3, 2020
• Can a trip-free psychedelic still help people with depression?, Vice, November 7, 2019

• Cognitively-Based Compassion Training for parents reduces cortisol in infants and young children. Poehlmann-Tynan J, Engbretson A, Vigna AB, Weymouth LA, Burnson C, Zahn-Waxler C, Kapoor A, Gerstein ED, Fanning KA, Raison CL.Infant Ment Health J. 2020 Jan;41(1):126-144. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21831. Epub 2019 Oct 4.PMID: 31583748
• Microglial Activation and Response to Anti-inflammatory Treatment in Major Depressive Disorder: Another Piece in the Inflammation-Mood Disorders Puzzle. Raison CL.Biol Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 15;88(8):594-596. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.08.003.
• Post-acute psychological effects of classical serotonergic psychedelics: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Goldberg SB, Shechet B, Nicholas CR, Ng CW, Deole G, Chen Z, Raison CL.Psychol Med. 2020 Dec;50(16):2655-2666. doi: 10.1017/S003329172000389X. Epub 2020 Nov 4.PMID: 33143790
• The experimental effects of psilocybin on symptoms of anxiety and depression: A meta-analysis. Goldberg SB, Pace BT, Nicholas CR, Raison CL, Hutson PR.Psychiatry Res. 2020 Feb;284:112749. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112749. Epub 2020 Jan 2.
• Peripheral inflammatory biomarkers define biotypes of bipolar depression. Lee Y, Mansur RB, Brietzke E, Kapogiannis D, Delgado-Peraza F, Boutilier JJ, Chan TCY, Carmona NE, Rosenblat JD, Lee J, Maletic V, Vinberg M, Suppes T, Goldstein BI, Ravindran AV, Taylor VH, Chawla S, Nogueras-Ortiz C, Cosgrove VE, Kramer NE, Ho R, Raison CA, McIntyre RS.Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Mar 3. doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01051-y. Online ahead of print.
• HERO Wellness Scale: Examining a new mental wellness scale. Yaklin S, Jain R, Cole SP, Raison C, Rolin D, Jain S.Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2020 Feb;32(1):33-40.
• Ways of Knowing Compassion: How Do We Come to Know, Understand, and Measure Compassion When We See It? Mascaro JS, Florian MP, Ash MJ, Palmer PK, Frazier T, Condon P, Raison C.Front Psychol. 2020 Oct 2;11:547241. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.547241. eCollection 2020.PMID: 33132956
• Compassion Meditation Training for Hospital Chaplain Residents: A Pilot Study. Ash MJ, Walker ER, DiClemente RJ, Florian MP, Palmer PK, Wehrmeyer K, Negi LT, Grant GH, Raison CL, Mascaro JS.J Health Care Chaplain. 2020 Feb 13:1-16. doi: 10.1080/08854726.2020.1723189. Online ahead of print.
• Everything old is new again: are psychedelic medicines poised to take mental health by storm?
  Raison CL.Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2018 Nov;138(5):365-367. doi: 10.1111/acps.12975.
• Interleukin (IL)-6: A good kid hanging out with bad friends (and why sauna is good for health).
  Raison CL, Knight JM, Pariante C.Brain Behav Immun. 2018 Oct;73:1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.06.008. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
• C-reactive protein and response to lurasidone in patients with bipolar depression. Raison CL, Pikalov A, Siu C, Tsai J, Koblan K, Loebel A.Brain Behav Immun. 2018 Oct;73:717-724. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.08.009. Epub 2018 Aug 10.
• Miller AH, Raison CL. The role of inflammation in depression: from evolutionary imperative to modern treatment target. Nat Rev Immunol. 2016 Jan;16(1):22-34. doi: 10.1038/nri.2015.5. PMID: 26711676; PMCID: PMC5542678.
• Whole-Body Hyperthermia for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Janssen CW, Lowry CA, Mehl MR, Allen JJ, Kelly KL, Gartner DE, Medrano A, Begay TK, Rentscher K, White JJ, Fridman A, Roberts LJ, Robbins ML, Hanusch KU, Cole SP, Raison CL.JAMA Psychiatry.
  2016 Aug 1;73(8):789-95. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1031.PMID: 27172277
• Is depression an inflammatory disorder? Raison CL, Miller AH.Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2011 Dec;13(6):467-75. doi: 10.1007/s11920-011-0232-0.PMID: 21927805
• Psychoneuroimmunology meets neuropsychopharmacology: translational implications of the impact of inflammation on behavior. Haroon E, Raison CL, Miller AH.Neuropsychopharmacology. 2012 Jan;37(1):137-62. doi: 10.1038/npp.2011.205. Epub 2011 Sep 14.PMID: 21918508
• Inflammation and its discontents: the role of cytokines in the pathophysiology of major depression. Miller AH, Maletic V, Raison CL.Biol Psychiatry. 2009 May 1;65(9):732-41. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.11.029. Epub 2009 Jan 15.PMID: 19150053
• Cytokines sing the blues: inflammation and the pathogenesis of depression. Raison CL, Capuron L, Miller AH.Trends Immunol. 2006 Jan;27(1):24-31. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2005.11.006. Epub 2005 Nov 28.PMID: 16316783