Dr. Anantha Shekhar on the Convergence of Psychiatry, Neurology, and the Next Era of Brain Medicine

In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li speaks with Dr. Anantha Shekhar, Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Shekhar shares how his early experiences with a family member’s schizophrenia inspired a lifelong mission to bridge neuroscience, psychiatry, and translational research. They explore how psychiatry and neurology are rapidly converging, why the future of mental health treatment lies in understanding brain circuits and plasticity, and what AI, precision medicine, and synthetic biology might mean for the next generation of therapies. Dr. Shekhar also reflects on his pioneering work developing xanomeline—the first novel mechanism of action for schizophrenia in over 70 years—and offers hard-won lessons on trial design, translational gaps, and maintaining scientific rigor in a complex field. A fascinating conversation on the science—and the humanity—behind reshaping how we understand and treat the brain.