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Current Welsh-McCarthy Lab Team

  • David K. Welsh, M.D., Ph.D.

    David K. Welsh, M.D., Ph.D.

    Principal Investigator of the Welsh Lab, Professor of Psychiatry

    Dr. David K. Welsh graduated from Stanford University with a B.A.S. in Biological Sciences and Psychology, and went on to earn his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He completed his Internship and Residency in General Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry at UCSD. Since 2003, he has been on the faculty of the UCSD Department of Psychiary. Dr. Welsh is most interested in studying the autonomy, heterogeneity, and coupling of cellular circadian clocks, and their role in mood disorders. Dr. Welsh is also a Staff Psychiatrist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System mood disorders clinic.

  • Michael McCarthy, M.D., Ph.D.

    Michael McCarthy, M.D., Ph.D.

    Principal Investigator of the McCarthy Lab, Professor of Psychiatry

    Dr. Michael McCarthy earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Psychology from the University of New Mexico, after which he achieved his M.D. and Ph.D. at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. He completed his Residency in Psychiatry at UCSD and his Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry in the Welsh Lab prior to starting his own lab. In addition to studying circadian rhythms in cells derived from patients with mood disorders, Dr. McCarthy sees patients suffering from bipolar disorder at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

  • Heather Wei, M.S.

    Heather Wei, M.S.

    Lab Manager

    Heather Wei earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology at East China Normal University before completing her M.S. in Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Arizona. After holding numerous research positions at the University of Arizona, Merck Laboratories, Isis Pharmaceuticals, UCSD, Anesiva and Hyperion Biotechnology, she joined the Welsh-McCarthy group as lab manager. Her research efforts center on the study of circadian rhythms in skin cells from patients with depression and bipolar disorder, as well as in neuronal cells from mouse models of mood disorders.

For a list of former lab members, please visit our Alumni page