David Nutt

Research Statement

AI generated · 1d ago

David Nutt's indexed work centers on the comparative harms of licit and illicit drugs, developed through multicriteria decision analysis and a rational harm-assessment scale that together remain among his most-cited contributions. A second, equally prominent line concerns psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression, spanning an open-label feasibility study and a six-month follow-up, and extending to a randomized comparison of psilocybin against escitalopram. Related neuroimaging work on the neural correlates of the psychedelic state and the entropic-brain account of conscious states links these clinical and mechanistic strands. Earlier contributions include a middle-author role in the reclassification and naming of the translocator protein (18kDa), reflecting engagement with receptor pharmacology beyond his lead-authored themes. His portfolio otherwise consists of publications rather than indexed software, datasets, patents, or grants. Across these works, the through-line is a pharmacological and neuroimaging approach to drug harms, serotonergic function, and depression treatment, moving from population-level risk assessment toward mechanistic and clinical investigation of psychedelic compounds.

Most Cited Works

Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis

David J Nutt, Leslie A King, Lawrence D Phillips, Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs

The Lancet2010

1,677Citations

Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study

Robin L Carhart-Harris, Mark Bolstridge, James Rucker, Camilla M J Day, David Erritzoe, Mendel Kaelen, Michael Bloomfield, James A Rickard, Ben Forbes, Amanda Feilding, David Taylor, Steve Pilling, Valerie H Curran, David J Nutt

The Lancet Psychiatry2016

1,536

Research Areas

Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ReseaTreatment of Major DepressionAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, TreaSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Affiliations & Education

Employment

2009–2026
Imperial College London(GB)
professor

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Sources