John D. Port, M.D., Ph.D.

Traditional neuroimaging has failed to be useful for the diagnosis and prognosis of psychiatric disease; psychiatric disorders are diagnosed based purely on clinical history. The research goal of John D. Port, M.D., Ph.D., is to develop new tools for diagnosing psychiatric disorders that could help psychiatrists objectively diagnose such diseases.

Focus areas

• Using traditional proton MR spectroscopy to study patients with mood disorders and addiction disorders, tracking metabolite changes before and after treatment
• Developing lithium MR spectroscopy as a tool to determine if patients with bipolar disorder will respond to lithium medication
• Developing other MR spectroscopy tools for the study of metabolic processes, such as phosphorus MR spectroscopy for the study of skeletal muscle energetics in diabetic patients and proton MR spectroscopy for the measurement of liver fat

Significance to patient care

Dr. Port creates new MR-based imaging and spectroscopy tools that allow for the study of common diseases such as bipolar disorder, major depression, alcoholism and diabetes. Dr. Port's tools will be critical to advancing the knowledge in these fields, with the end goal of improving patient care.

Professional highlights

• Active in the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) for a decade and currently the chair of its Psychiatric MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Study Group (2011-2012)
• Ad Hoc Reviewer — Radiology, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Diabetes, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, Neurology, and Archives of General Psychiatry