Alexander W. Charney: Leveraging genomics to advance the treatment of mental illness
Dr. Alexander Charney is a physician-scientist and academic leader at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he holds professorships in Artificial Intelligence, Psychiatry, Genetics, and Genomic Sciences. As Vice Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health and Director of the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, he is advancing the frontiers of precision medicine and digital health. Dr. Charney leads high-impact research programs such as the Mount Sinai Million Health Discoveries Program and the Living Brain Project, with a focus on schizophrenia, personalized experimental therapeutics, and AI-driven discovery. He has secured major NIH funding and helped drive landmark findings in psychiatric genetics through the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. A transformative institutional leader, Dr. Charney has launched pioneering clinical trials, forged strategic partnerships, and helped shape Mount Sinai's research-track psychiatry residency. His work bridges the gap between science and clinical care, setting new standards in translational neuroscience and personalized medicine. In this exclusive Genomic Press Interview, Dr. Charney shares with our readers insights into his life and career.
Part 1: Alexander W. Charney – Life and Career
Where were you born, and where do you live now?
I was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and I currently live in Westchester County, New York, USA.
Could you give us a glimpse into your personal history, emphasizing the pivotal moments that first kindled your passion for science?
I am drawn to big questions — how things work, how people work. In my education, I studied neuroscience and genomics to gain the language and skills to tackle those questions. However, it was my experience treating patients with schizophrenia that gave them urgency.
Please share with us what initially piqued your interest in your favorite research or professional focus area.
I was struck by how little we truly understand the brain at a molecular level, particularly when compared to other organs. That gap felt like both a scientific challenge and a moral imperative. I wanted to help close it and felt up to the challenge.
We would like to know more about your career trajectory leading up to your most relevant leadership role. What defining moments channeled you toward that leadership responsibility?
I have been fortunate to have had outstanding mentorship at every level of my career, and whatever success I achieve is due to the guidance of my mentors. I moved into leadership as it became clear to me that the systems I needed to accomplish my goals did not exist yet, and no one else was working on building them. Launching the Living Brain Project was a turning point; it taught me what was required to come up with bold ideas and execute on them. Then, like many in my generation (I graduated medical school in 2012 and completed residency in 2018), the COVID pandemic was a turning point that called for a new group of leaders in medicine to emerge. I consider myself part of that group.
Citation: Genomic Psychiatry 2025; 10.61373/gp025k.0077
What is a decision or choice that seemed like a mistake at the time but ended up being valuable or transformative for your career or life?
I put my research in neuroscience and psychiatry on hold for several months when the pandemic hit NYC in March 2020 to help lead my institution's response to the crisis. I redeployed my entire lab to the effort at the time. This was a risk that has paid off (Charney AW et al., Nature Medicine 2020, DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-1004-3, Thompson RC et al., Nature Medicine 2022, DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02107-4, Gruber CN et al. Cell 2023, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.06.012, and Cervia-Hasler C et al. Science 2024, DOI: 10.1126/science.adg7942).
What habits and values did you develop during your academic studies or subsequent postdoctoral experiences that you uphold within your research environment?
The most important value is scientific rigor. Question your assumptions. Do not believe your primary findings until all other explanations have been ruled out. This way of thinking is at the core of my approach to work.
Please tell us more about your current scholarly focal points within your chosen field of science.
I am focused on building systems to make personalized medicine a reality. Our team is integrating genome sequencing, real-time clinical data, AI modeling, and personalized therapeutics into a single, evolving ecosystem within a real-world health system in NYC (see Figure 2).
Citation: Genomic Psychiatry 2025; 10.61373/gp025k.0077
What impact do you hope to achieve in your field by focusing on specific research topics?
My lifelong goal is to develop cures for severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Everything I do in my career is with an eye towards that goal (Liu D et al. Nature Genetics 2023, DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01305-1).
What do you most enjoy in your capacity as an academic or research leader?
The freedom to come up with big ideas and make them a reality.
At Genomic Press, we prioritize fostering research endeavors based solely on their inherent merit, uninfluenced by geography or the researchers' personal or demographic traits. Are there particular cultural facets within the scientific community that warrant transformative scrutiny, or is there a cause within science that you feel strongly devoted to?
We have a crisis of reproducibility driven by researchers prioritizing personal prestige over finding solutions for patients.
Outside professional confines, how do you prefer to allocate your leisure moments, or conversely, in what manner would you envision spending these moments given a choice?
My favorite hobby is long-distance sea kayaking. I love spending time in my kayak on rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Part 2: Alexander W. Charney – Selected questions from the Proust Questionnaire
What is your most marked characteristic?1
Ambition.
Among your talents, which one(s) give(s) you a competitive edge?
Work ethic.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My age.
What is your current state of mind?
Driven.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Overcoming adversity.
When and where were you happiest? And why were so happy then?
Swimming in the pool after work with my one-year old son, Davis.
What is your greatest fear?
Failure.
What is your greatest regret?
No regrets.
What are you most proud of?
Serving as both a front-line healthcare worker and front-line scientist during the first months of the pandemic.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The Living Brain Project (but my best is yet to come).
What or who is your greatest passion?
Finding a cure for schizophrenia.
What is your favorite occupation (or activity)?
Being a physician-scientist.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Knicks playoff game tickets.
What is your most treasured possession?
My Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar, named Gertrude.
Where would you most like to live?
New York.
What is the quality you most admire in people?
Humility.
What is the trait you most dislike in people?
Dishonesty.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I do not have an answer for this one – all virtues are important.
What do you most value in your friends?
Sense of humor.
Which living person do you most admire?
Bob Dylan.
Who are your heroes in real life?
My parents.
If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
Freud, because he has had such a profound influence on my chosen profession.
Who are your favorite writers?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Samuel Beckett, and Lora Liharska.
Who are your heroes of fiction?
Don Quixote.
What aphorism or motto best encapsulates your life philosophy?
Work hard and never give up.
Alexander W. Charney, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA.
At the Mount SinAI Retreat, Alex Charney interviewed Ameca (created by Engineered Arts), the world's most advanced humanoid robot, in a captivating live demonstration that showcased her lifelike expressions and ability to engage with humans through conversation. Their exchange highlighted the promise of human–AI interaction and embodied the retreat's bold vision for the future of AI in healthcare.
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