Yasmin Hurd

Yasmin Hurd is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai. Hurd holds appointments as faculty of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and is globally recognized for her translational research on the underlying neurobiology of substance use disorders and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Hurd's research on the transgenerational effects of early cannabis exposure on the developing brain and behavior and on the therapeutic properties of cannabidiol has garnered substantial media attention. In 2017, Dr. Hurd was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and, in 2022, Dr. Hurd was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Early life and education As a child growing up in Jamaica, Hurd was particularly interested in how the brain works. To aid in covering her expenses for college, she decided to work in a research lab, which required her to take care of animals. This experience was one that sparked her childhood curiosity and set her on a path to a career in neuroscience research. She completed her PhD at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, where her work with micro-dialysis led to advances in neuropharmacology. She spent time as a Pharmacology Research Associate Fellow with the National Institutes of Health and Staff Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health.

She is also the former director of the medical school's combined MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program. Hurd served on advisory boards including the Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Board of Scientific Counselors and the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) advisory Council.

Hurd is a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, where she studies addiction in people and animal models. Her animal research has revealed that drugs like marijuana can have profound effects on the developing and fetal adolescent brain, including effects that can even extend to the future generations of drug-users.

Her work on the neurobiology of addiction, especially with regard to the effects of heroin and the developmental changes caused by cannabis, have been profiled in a variety of popular news and documentary sources.

Research Hurd’s research focuses on the effects of cannabis and heroin on the brain. Her pre-clinical research is complemented with clinical laboratory investigations evaluating the therapeutic potential of medications such as the use of phytocannabinoids in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Grants Ongoing research grants as of 2020: +Title, Role and Description Title and No.RoleDescriptionCannabidiol in the treatment of opioid use disorder UG3 DA050323, NIH/NIDA Principal InvestigatorConduct pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies investigating the effects of cannabidiol in healthy controls and in individuals with opioid use disorder.Translating CBD Treatment for Heroin Addiction; R01 DA048613, NIH/NIDA Co-Principal InvestigatorA study of the neurobiological effects of CBD to reduce craving in human opioid users. Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms in human heroin abuse; 2P01DA008227, NIH/NIDA Project Principal InvestigatorCharacterizing epigenetic networks in mesocorticolimbic structures underlying drug abuse in humans with complementary mechanistic studies in rodents. Cell Specificity of the Human Heroin Epigenome; R01 DA043247, NIH/NIDA Co-Principal InvestigatorDetermining the epigenetic landscape of discrete cell populations in the prefrontal cortex of human heroin abusers.Neurodevelopmental effects of cannabis and its epigenetic regulation; R01 DA030359, NIH/NIDA Principal InvestigatorStudying the effects of prenatal and adolescent cannabis exposure on the developing brain and adult brain and behavior.Prevention of the cardiovascular medical consequences of drug overdose; R01DA037317, NIH/NIDACo-InvestigatorEvaluation of (1) high-risk genetic polymorphisms that are predictive of drug overdose fatality; (2) serum biomarkers that predict tissue/organ injury from drug toxicity; and (3) prospective validation of a previously derived clinical risk tool in the Toxicology Investigators’ Consortium (TOXIC).

Publications Partial list ranked by third-party citations:

Cited by 511 publications. Cited by 449 publications. Cited by 393 publications. Cited by 246 publications. Cited by 390 publications. Cited by 357 publications. Cited by 309 publications.

Professional societies include:

American College Neuropsychopharmacology, Society for Neuroscience, New York Academy of Sciences, College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and the Society for Biological Psychiatry.