Capt Joseph Hibbeln, MD

Research Interests:

CAPT Joseph R Hibbeln MD is Acting Chief of Section of Nutritional Neurosciences, Laboratory of Membrane Biophysics and Biochemistry, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. 

A psychiatrist and lipid biochemist by training, Dr Hibbeln is now one of the world’s leading experts on the importance of dietary fats for human brain development and function.  His work is focused on translating basic neuroscience on the omega-3 essential fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (found in fish and seafood) into direct clinical applications, and he has published more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers to date.  His research interests range from severe pathological states, including suicide and psychosis, through depression and antisocial behaviour, to normative personality in adulthood and early development.  He believes that a substantial proportion of emotional distress in modern society might be reversed by adequate intakes of omega-3 fatty acids.

He has extensive international collaborations for clinical trials of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention of suicide, postpartum depression, and violence. He is a primary collaborator in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, Bristol, UK, examining the residual effect of nutritional insufficiencies in pregnancy in childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes and relevant gene-nutrient interactions. Joe was one of the very first investigators to draw attention to the importance of omega-3 fatty acids in psychiatric disorders (he organized a key international conference on this theme at NIH in 1998), and he is frequently sought out to communicate scientific findings in this field though major public media.

His numerous honours include the TL Cleave Award from the McCarrison Society, London, United States Public Health Service (USPHS), Outstanding Service medal, three USPHS Crisis Response Awards, the Gerald Klerman award from the National Association for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression, Independent Investigator and Young Investigator awards from NARSAD and Eagle Scout, BSA.  Dr Hibbeln received a BA with special honours from the University of Chicago in 1983 and an MD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1988.  He is a board certified physician in psychiatry and serves as a Captain in the USPHS.