Overview
Lithium remains underutilized and misunderstood in the field of medicine, but using this mighty mineral may in fact be one of the most promising treatments available. Discover novel protocols for integrating low-dose lithium as a safe, integrative treatment for psychiatric and neurological disorders. With these symposium lectures, you’ll learn from international experts – such as Professor Anjum Memon (lead author of the groundbreaking study on lithium and suicide), Julie Andersen, PhD, De-Maw Chuang, PhD, and James Greenblatt, MD – how to effectively integrate lithium into treatment for dementia, suicide prevention, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and more.
Present in trace amounts in the foods we eat and the water we drink, lithium is a critical nutrient for many aspects of human physiology. While it has been widely prescribed and researched as a mood stabilizing drug, it continues to be one of the most slandered and misunderstood therapies in medicine. Erroneously, much of the public – as well as some health professionals – continues to think of lithium almost exclusively as a high-dose drug. As a naturally-occurring mineral, lithium can be utilized in micro-doses mimicking those found in our food and water supplies to balance brain chemistry safely and effectively.
Low-dose lithium has shown to be effective in a variety of applications, from treating Alzheimer’s, depression, and traumatic brain injury to preventing suicide. A novel, evidence-based model, focused on prevention and inclusion of low-dose lithium, may help us reduce suffering and bolster mental wellness in ways we’ve not thought possible before. To learn more, check out our articles or visit LowDoseLithium.com.
Dr. Andersen received her PhD from the Department of Biological Chemistry in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received additional research training in the Department of Neurogenetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Prior to arriving at the Buck Institute, Dr. Andersen held a faculty position in the School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. Dr. Andersen has published more than 170 scientific papers and holds three current patents. She has been recognized for her research with a Parkinson’s Pioneer Award from the National Parkinson’s Foundation, a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and a senior scholarship from the Ellison Medical Foundation. She was elected a fellow of the Society for Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine in 2013. She currently serves on the scientific advisory board for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Biology of Aging Program, on the editorial board of e-Neuro (Journal of Neuroscience’s e-journal), as a member of the Brookdale Institute on Aging, and as a council member for the Society of Neurotoxicity. Dr. Andersen has extensive experience working with both biotech companies and medical foundations, including Roche, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the National Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, and the American Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.
De-Maw Chuang, PhD joined the Intramural Research Program (IRP) of NIMH, NIH in 1973 and is the former Chief of the Molecular Neurobiology section. His research there centered on the mechanisms and actions of mood stabilizing drugs for bipolar disorder, notably lithium and valproate. His group was one of the first to demonstrate neuroprotective effects of these drugs and to explore their potential use for the treatment of a variety of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury and Huntington’s disease. Dr. Chuang retired from the IRP of NIMH, NIH and became a Scientist Emeritus of the IRP in January 2016. His research at the IRP resulted in about 270 publications and over 22,000 citations with an H-index of 85. For his innovative research, Dr. Chuang has received numerous honors and awards including the NIH Director’s Award in 1997, NARSAD (National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) Distinguished Investigator Award in 2002, Academician of Academia Sinica in Taiwan in 2006, Fellow of American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP ) in 2010, Best Mentor of the Year from the NIMH Director in 2010, Outstanding Mentor Award from the IRP of NIMH in 2011, and Outstanding Alumni Award of National Taiwan University in 2012.
Dr. Endres is the chief scientific officer for AIBMR Life Sciences, Inc. in Seattle, Washington since 2006. He earned a degree in naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington in 2004 and is licensed by Washington State Department of Health as a physician. He is a toxicologist and full member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT). Dr. Endres has been a member of numerous expert panels assembled for the evaluation of GRAS Independent Conclusions. He meets frequently with FDA Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS) in College Park, MD for FDA GRAS pre-notification meetings. Dr. Endres has been a contributing author on many toxicological safety assessments that are published in academic journals specializing in toxicology. He is frequently the monitoring scientist for toxicology studies designed to study the safety of ingredients to be added to foods and dietary supplements. Dr. Endres is on the Editorial Advisory Boards for Nutritional Outlook, and is on the Executive Advisory Board for Vitafoods Europe. At AIBMR, he manages a team of scientific and regulatory consultants specializing in the natural products and functional foods industries.
Sudhir Gadh, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist with a private practice in Union Square, New York City. He is also a Commander in the US Navy Reserve and the Medical Director for the Center for Recovery and Wellness. After completing his undergraduate degree at New York University in New York City, Dr. Gadh earned his medical degree at St. George’s University Medical School. He went on to his residency at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he received the Steven Samek Award for Compassionate Care. Following residency, Dr. Gadh worked as an Attending at Bellevue Hospital Center and taught pharmacology at the NYU School of Medicine, both in New York City. Dr. Gadh is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and is also a psychiatrist at the New Life School for special needs children in the Bronx.
Dr. Gadh offers progressive psychiatric care that combines medication and therapy to help patients identify the core issues contributing to their mental health conditions. His comprehensive approach encourages patients to accept their value but demand and achieve improvement nonetheless. He supports healthy behavioral changes, including enhancing your diet, exercise, and sleeping habits to optimize brain health. He also prescribes medication to help patients improve or heal brain functioning, but he doesn’t believe patients must rely on medication as a long-term solution. Dr. Gadh is the author of Low-dose lithium impact in an addiction treatment setting, published in July 2020, in Personalized Medicine in Psychiatry.
Orestis Giotakos graduated from the Military Medical School, University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and he has been working as a Military Psychiatrist since 1992. He obtained his M.Sc. in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and his Ph.D. at the Medical School of Athens. He has conducted several investigations and has written a number of articles and books in psychopathology and in prevention strategies. He is the founder of the npo “obrela – Neuroscience & Mental Health,” the editor of the journal, Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience & Mental Health, and the director of the project, I Care for My Brain.
A pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, James M. Greenblatt, MD, has treated patients since 1988. After receiving his medical degree and completing his psychiatry residency at George Washington University, Dr. Greenblatt completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School. He served as the Chief Medical Officer at Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham, MA for nearly 20 years, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine. Dr. Greenblatt has lectured internationally on the scientific evidence for nutritional interventions in psychiatry and mental illness. He is also the founder of Psychiatry Redefined, and author of eight books, including Finally Focused: The Breakthrough Natural Treatment Plan for ADHD, and Nutritional Lithium: A Cinderella Story.
Eric Jakobsson is a professor in the Departments of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and of Biochemistry and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a senior research scientist at the US National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and a professor in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include computational biochemistry in the use of simulations to understand the physical, chemical bases of biomolecular function, bioinformatics in the use of advanced information, and technology to extract meaning from databases containing information on sequence, structure, and function. Dr. Jakobsson received his PhD in physics from Dartmouth College.
Professor Anjum Memon is a medically qualified epidemiologist and public health academic, and currently serves as the Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). He trained in epidemiology at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Richard Doll FRS – the eminent epidemiologist who discovered the main hazards of smoking. Anjum joined BSMS in 2005, having previously worked at the Universities of Oxford, Kuwait and Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and an Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine. Along with teaching, research and public health service work, Anjum contributes to capacity building, training and quality assurance activities in public health. Professor Memon is the lead author on the recent, groundbreaking study about the link between lithium in drinking water and lower rates of suicide. To learn more about Dr. Memon’s research, teaching and publications, click here.
Dr. James Phelps is a psychiatrist who has focused his practice on complex mood disorders for the last 20 years. In addition to full-time patient care, from which he is now mostly retired, he has been a “closet academic”, publishing articles on bipolar disorders and more recently on his clinic’s variation of the “Collaborative Care Model”, a system of psychiatric consultation in primary care. He currently serves as Research Editor for the Psychopharmacology Institute, preparing monthly “Quick Take” podcasts summarizing recent psychiatric articles; and is working on a video series on bipolar spectrum disorders.
