Poitras Center to fuel early careers of 50 young scientists dedicated to psychiatric disorders research

Patricia and James Poitras ’63, longtime MIT supporters, have launched a fellowship program for graduate students and postdocs studying major mental illness, expanding their MIT philanthropy to directly support early-career scientists. The commitment establishes 50 two-year fellowships through the Poitras Center for Psychiatric Disorders Research at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research. Five fellowships will be awarded every year for the next decade, creating a long-term talent pipeline focused specifically on psychiatric disorders.

The $10 million gift is the latest in a series of philanthropic investments from the Poitras family to strengthen MIT’s capacity to address the growing burden of severe depression and anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other complex psychiatric conditions. “Pat and Jim have remained steadfast in their decades-long commitment to bold research that can transform mental wellness,” says Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute and head of the Poitras Center. “Their remarkable support of rising talent in the MIT ecosystem is yet another emblem of their commitment to that cause.”

A philanthropic legacy

Many recent mental health discoveries emerging from MIT — from molecular tools that can rewrite DNA to artificial intelligence-powered technologies that can calculate a person’s risk for developing mental illness — were hard to imagine two decades ago. Yet, Patricia and James Poitras envisioned a future where enigmatic mental health conditions could be solved. They understood this future would require not just research, but a fundamental reimagining of how psychiatric research itself is conducted.

In 2007, inspired by meetings with leadership at the McGovern Institute, the Poitras Family gifted $20 million to launch the Poitras Center. By bridging the fields of basic neuroscience, clinical psychiatry, and molecular biology, the center sought to establish a unified blueprint for understanding how psychiatric disorders hijack the mind at every level, from molecular mechanisms to whole brain systems, and guide the creation of novel therapies to better treat them. 

Since the center’s establishment, additional investments by the Poitras family have supported research ranging from genome engineering to cognitive neuroscience. These investments have empowered scientists across disciplines to pursue innovative research questions, including how ketamine acts on synaptic communication and why schizophrenia distorts inner speech and reasoning. These efforts have ushered in major breakthroughs in mental health: an AI-powered calculator for predicting bipolar disorder risk in adolescents, molecular carriers that precisely deliver therapies throughout the body, and strategies that use patients’ brain activity patterns to match them with optimal treatments, among other advances. 

Expanding support for early career scientists

The Poitras family’s latest gift invests directly in the PhD students and postdocs who will carry the field of psychiatric research forward. It comes at a time when federal funding has grown especially precarious. “To make the greatest impact on the world’s mental health, we recognize that we must not only support transformational research, but also the young people driving its progress,” says James Poitras, who is also chair of the McGovern Institute’s board.

Five McGovern Institute researchers have been selected as the inaugural cohort of Poitras Center Fellows and Graduate Scholars. Their projects span multiple areas in brain research and could reveal a suite of new ways to heal the mind.

• Amrita Lamba: Postdoc, Saxe lab
  Drawing on her expertise in social neuroscience and game theory, Lamba will examine whether a two-player economic game could be used to distinguish generalized anxiety from social anxiety — a critical step toward personalized treatments for disorder subtypes. 
• Hoonwon Lee: Postdoc, Jasanoff lab
  As a molecular biologist who studies memory formation in the brain, Lee examines how fear memories develop and persist across brain networks, connecting what’s happening at the cellular level to larger brain-wide patterns. His findings may lead to new targets for post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Karen Pang: Graduate student, Anikeeva lab
  Pang studies how the gut communicates with the brain to influence anxiety and depression, developing new tools to understand this connection and ultimately create treatments that address both digestive and mental health problems together.
• Smriti Saini: Graduate student, Gabrieli lab
  Saini is using brain imaging and computational techniques to identify which people with severe social anxiety will benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, so doctors can personalize treatment decisions rather than relying only on symptoms. 
• Linghua Zhang: Postdoc, Wang lab
  Exercise is known to boost mood, but how it reshapes the mind is unclear. Zhang will study the circuit-level mechanisms behind the brain benefits of physical activity.

The new gift extends the Poitras family’s support of mental health research at MIT to over $100 million. It also marks another step toward a bold vision years in the making. 

“Serious brain disorders profoundly affect patients, families, and caregivers,” says Patricia Poitras. “We believe that investing in the next generation of researchers will accelerate powerful discoveries that lead to life-changing treatments and better future for countless patients and families.”

The next application window for Poitras Center fellowships will open in May 2027.