Psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Munich
Prof. Dr. med.Peter Falkai
Psychiatrist in Munich. His research asks how severe mental illness arises in the brain, schizophrenia above all, and how treatment and prevention can be improved.
- Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at LMU University Hospital Munich, the clinic once led by Emil Kraepelin
- Director at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and head of its research hospital
- Spokesperson of the German Center for Mental Health
- President of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry
One dot per paper
PubMed lists 1,009 publications under his name, from 1986 to today. One dot per paper, arranged by year.
News
Online lecture: Mental gesund bleiben
Lecture in the Mind Matters series of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry on what science recommends for staying mentally healthy (in German). Event page
New book: Mental gesund bleiben
Together with science journalist Jeanne Rubner he summarises what research knows about preventing mental illness. Kösel, in German. About the book
Interview in Süddeutsche Zeitung
"I send all my patients to exercise": on celebrities speaking openly about depression, risk factors and why even a daily walk to the newsstand can help (in German). Read the interview
Jean Delay Prize of the World Psychiatric Association
The WPA presented its highest award to him in Stockholm for his lifetime contribution to psychiatry. Press release
Research focus
Four questions that have shaped his work for years. More on research
How schizophrenia arises in the brain
From his first paper on cell loss in the hippocampus to today's hypothesis of disturbed oligodendrocyte maturation: schizophrenia as a disorder of regeneration rather than degeneration.
Exercise as therapy
Can aerobic exercise increase hippocampal volume in schizophrenia and improve memory and daily life? Trials, mechanisms and the question of who benefits.
Early detection, targeted treatment
Imaging, genetics and machine learning are used to predict the course of illness so that patients receive the treatment that suits them.
Mental health care and prevention
Guidelines, health services research and the question of how mental illness can be prevented, including within the German Center for Mental Health.
Career
Five university hospitals in forty years. Full CV
- from 1981DüsseldorfMedical school, MD, board certification, habilitation
- 1987LondonResearch with Tim Crow
- 1996BonnAssociate professor, senior consultant
- 2002Homburg/SaarFirst chair, department director
- 2006GöttingenChair of psychiatry
- since 2012MunichLMU University Hospital, since 2024 also Max Planck Institute
Most cited papers
Citations according to NIH iCite. All publications
- 2016Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Treatment Response and Resistance in Psychosis (TRRIP) Working Group Consensus Guidelines on Diagnosis and Terminology.Am J Psychiatry. 895 citations
- 2001Mind reading: neural mechanisms of theory of mind and self-perspective.Neuroimage. 624 citations
- 2018Machine Learning Approaches for Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry.Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 577 citations
- 2012World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Schizophrenia, part 1: update 2012 on the acute treatment of schizophrenia and the management of treatment resistance.World J Biol Psychiatry. 454 citations
- 2018EPA guidance on physical activity as a treatment for severe mental illness: a meta-review of the evidence and Position Statement from the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), supported by the International Organization of Physical Therapists in Mental Health (IOPTMH).Eur Psychiatry. 449 citations
- 2010Hippocampal plasticity in response to exercise in schizophrenia.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 434 citations
Contact
For research collaborations, lectures, expert opinions or media requests, please contact Prof. Falkai through his office at LMU University Hospital.