Carlos Zarate

Carlos A. Zarate, M.D., is a senior clinical researcher who leads work on the neurobiology and treatment of mood disorders, with a long-standing appointment in the intramural research programme at the National Institute of Mental Health. He has designed and led randomized clinical trials of NMDA‑receptor antagonists and other rapid‑acting antidepressant agents in treatment‑resistant major depressive disorder and bipolar depression, and has published influential studies comparing ketamine to established interventions and characterising clinical outcomes such as antisuicidal response, dissociation, sleep effects and fatigue.

Zarate's research spans translational pharmacology, early‑phase human experimental medicine (including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics studies such as investigations of (2R,6R)‑hydroxynorketamine), biomarker and neuroimaging work, and methodological contributions to measuring suicidal ideation and rapid treatment response in trials. His publications and reviews have helped shape current understanding of how NMDA‑receptor modulation and downstream neuroplasticity contribute to rapid antidepressant effects, and have influenced clinical and scientific discourse around psychedelic and dissociative therapeutics for mood and anxiety disorders.