Career Development Institute for Psychiatry
Dedicated to Launching and Maintaining Careers in Mental Health Research

Dawn Ionescu, MD

Dr. Dawn Ionescu received a BA in History & Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh, attended medical school at Penn State, and completed three years of a general psychiatry residency at The George Washington University. As a PGY-4 resident, she transferred to the NIMH's intramural training program. There, under the mentorship of Dr. Carlos Zarate in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, she studied ketamine's antidepressant effects in patients with treatment resistant depression. After she completed residency and a 1-year fellowship in clinical research at the NIMH, she took a faculty position at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she was awarded grant funding through a KL2/CMeRIT Award, a K23 award from the NIMH, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to study ketamine's antidepressant and antisuicidal effects. She also collaborated with the MIT Media Lab on the development of wearable, noninvasive sensors for the diagnosis and prognosis of depression. For her experience in clinical research, she was selected as a member, and later, Chair, of the FDA's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC). In 2017, she transitioned her career to industry to be a part of the esketamine development program at Janssen Pharmaceuticals Research & Development as a Director of Neuroscience Clinical Development. Based in La Jolla, CA, she is currently a Senior Director and Clinical Leader in the Experimental Medicine group at Janssen. She specifically works on a team that moves compounds from discovery to early drug development, with a focus on phase 1 and 2 studies. She previously was a Study Responsible Physician for two large, global, phase 3 clinical trials on esketamine for patients with major depressive disorder at imminent risk for suicide. She also maintains her clinical skills as a telepsychiatrist.

Positions

Current Position

  • Senior Director and Clinical Leader, Neuroscience Experimental Medicine, Janssen

Previous Positions

  • Director, Neuroscience Clinical Development, Janssen Pharmaceuticals
  • Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School (until March 2017)
  • Assistant in Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital (until March 2017)

 

Education & Training

  • M.D., Penn State College of Medicine, 2009
  • Psychiatry Residency, The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, 2009-2012
  • Psychiatry Residency (PGY-4), National Institute of Mental Health, 2012-2013
  • Clinical Research Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health, 2013-2014