René Kahn

René Sylvain Kahn is a neuropsychiatrist and the Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Professor and System Chair of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the United States, a position he has held since 2017. He previously served as Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. Kahn is recognized for his research on the neurobiology of schizophrenia. He served as a former president of the Schizophrenia International Research Society and was elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. He received the Neuropsychopharmacology Award from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2014.
He was awarded a knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2018. As of 2020, he was principal or co-principal investigator of more than 40 grants, written 39 books and book chapters and published more than 1000 peer-reviewed articles.

Biography

Kahn studied medicine from 1972 to 1979 at the University of Groningen, and then specialized in psychiatry and neurology at the University of Utrecht and the Academic Medical Center, respectively. He is a registered neuropsychiatrist since 1986. In 1990 he obtained his Ph.D. with professors Herman van Praag and David de Wied as mentors at the University of Utrecht on the thesis Serotonin Receptor Hypersensitivity in Panic Disorder: an Hypothesis.
Kahn served in the Royal Netherlands Army as a first lieutenant in 1980 and 1981.
Following residencies in the Netherlands, he attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City for a research fellowship in biological psychiatry. From there he completed psychiatry residencies at Mount Sinai Hospital and then acted as the chief of the psychiatry research unit at the Bronx VA Hospital. In 1993 he returned to the Netherlands be the chair of psychiatry at the University Medical Center. He led the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus—a multi-discipline center for research in fundamental neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, neurosurgery and rehabilitation medicine—for over 10 years, until 2017.

Honors and awards

Fulbright Scholarship
Chairman of the Dutch Association for Psychiatry
Treasurer and Vice-President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Honorary Lifetime Professor at Jilin University in Changchun, China
ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award
Honorary doctorate at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary
Lifetime achievement award of the Netherlands Psychiatric Association
President of The Schizophrenia International Research Society
Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion

Research

Kahn studies biological causes of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and has led numerous consortia examining the brain changes that play a role in schizophrenia. He has coordinated several international trials to optimize the treatment of schizophrenia.
He is known for helping establish proof that schizophrenia debuts with cognitive dysfunction, preceding the onset of the first incidence of psychosis by more than a decade. He and associates further showed that brain volume is one of the most heritable characteristics, paving the way to link brain volumes in health and disease to genetic variation.

Grants and trials

As of 2020, Kahn is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on 13 active grants related to child development and drug augmentation for onset schizophrenia to prevent psychosis and cognitive therapy symptoms.
Active grant in 2020:

Title and No.	Role	Duration
Stanley Foundation. Prednisolone augmentation for patients with recent onset schizophrenia	PI	2013-2020
Stanley Foundation. Simvastatin augmentation for recent onset schizophrenia	PI	2013-2020
EudraCT 2015-003503-39 Stanley Foundation. Omega fatty aids Trial in Ultra High Risk subjects	PI	2017-2020
NIH/NIMH Training the Next Generation of Clinical Neuroscientists	PI	2020-2024
NIH/NIMH Psychosis Risk Evaluation, Data Integration and Computational Technologies	PI	2020-2024

Publications

Editorial

As of 2020, Kahn is on the editorial board of Schizophrenia Research, European Neuropsychopharmacology, Schizophrenia Bulletin and Early Intervention in Psychosis.

Peer reviewed articles

Kahn authored or co-authored over 1000 scientific papers with an H index, Thomson Reuters: 128; cites: > 73,500 and an H index, Google Scholar: 195; cites: > 165,000.
Partial list:

Books and chapters

Partial list:

Kahn RS. De appel en de Boom. Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam 2011.
Kahn RS. In de spreekkamer van de psychiater. Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam 2008., NUR 875
Kahn RS. Onze Hersenen., Over de smalle grens tussen normaal en abnormaal. Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam 2006, 2007, 2008., NUR 875
De Haan L, Kahn RS. Psychotische stoornissen. In: Leerboek Psychiatrie. De Tijdstroom uitgeverij, 2005. / 5898 094 4, NUR 875