World-leading psy­cho­phy­sio­lo­gist joins Charité

De­pres­si­on is among the most common mental dis­or­ders world­wi­de and is not only a psy­cho­lo­gi­cal con­di­ti­on but also a sys­temic illness with serious con­se­quen­ces for the car­dio­vascu­lar system. A key bio­lo­gi­cal marker is heart rate va­ria­bi­li­ty (HRV), a direct in­di­ca­tor of the body’s ability to respond fle­xi­b­ly to stress. Low HRV levels are often as­so­cia­ted with de­pres­si­on and un­fa­vor­able disease out­co­mes. However, Thayer’s re­se­arch fun­da­ment­al­ly chal­len­ges this es­tab­lished view: Women with de­pres­si­on often exhibit higher HRV than non-de­pres­sed women. This finding con­tra­dic­ts pre­vai­ling models and points to pre­vious­ly over­loo­ked, gender-spe­ci­fic me­cha­nisms. Pos­si­ble in­flu­en­cing factors include hor­mo­nal status, emotion re­gu­la­ti­on stra­te­gies, and the mens­tru­al cycle. Thayer’s re­se­arch sug­gests that women employ active com­pen­sato­ry re­gu­lato­ry me­cha­nisms under stress – a process that remains in­suf­fi­ci­ent­ly un­ders­tood but has direct cli­ni­cal re­le­van­ce. This is pre­cise­ly where Thayer’s work at Charité comes in: It lays the foun­da­ti­on for more precise, per­so­na­li­zed tre­at­ment stra­te­gies that sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly account for bio­lo­gi­cal dif­fe­ren­ces.

Foun­da­ti­ons of gender-spe­ci­fic the­ra­pies

“We need to better un­der­stand how bio­lo­gi­cal and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal pro­ces­ses in­ter­act – and how they differ between women and men,” says Julian Thayer. “Only then can we develop more tar­ge­ted and ef­fec­tive the­ra­pies. I am excited to con­ti­nue my re­se­arch in Berlin!” The goal is to derive con­cre­te, per­so­na­li­zed tre­at­ment stra­te­gies from these me­cha­nisms. This could improve the­ra­peu­tic out­co­mes and reduce the burden of de­pres­si­on on health­ca­re systems.

A pioneer of trans­la­tio­nal ap­proa­ches

Thayer has pu­blished more than 700 sci­en­ti­fic papers, has been cited over 80,000 times ac­cord­ing to Google Scholar, and has re­cei­ved nu­me­rous awards. In 2023, he was elected to the Na­tio­nal Academy of Me­di­ci­ne in the United States. Julian Thayer is con­si­de­red a pioneer of trans­la­tio­nal ap­proa­ches that have a direct impact on patient care. Most re­cent­ly, he was based at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ca­li­for­nia, Irvine. “In Julian Thayer, Charité gains a re­se­ar­cher who has shaped an entire field,” says Heyo Kroemer, CEO of Charité. “His work com­bi­nes ex­cel­lent basic re­se­arch with tan­gi­ble be­ne­fits for pa­ti­ents, deepens our trans­at­lan­tic col­la­bo­ra­ti­ons, and fosters in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry ex­chan­ge.” At Charité, Thayer will work closely with the Cli­ni­cal Neu­ro­tech­no­lo­gy Lab led by Surjo Soe­ka­dar, aiming to in­te­gra­te neu­ro­tech­no­lo­gi­cal and psy­cho­phy­sio­lo­gi­cal ap­proa­ches for the tre­at­ment of psych­iatric dis­or­ders. Various net­works and in­sti­tu­ti­ons will benefit from Thayer’s ap­point­ment, in­clu­ding the Neu­ro­Cu­re Cluster of Ex­cel­lence and the Charité Center for Global Health.

Ad­van­ced Pro­fes­sor­ship program

The ap­point­ment was sup­por­ted by the Ad­van­ced Pro­fes­sor­ship Program of Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft with funding to­ta­ling €1.6 million. Julian Thayer is brin­ging two post­doc­to­ral re­se­ar­chers with him from the United States to Charité. “This ap­point­ment de­mons­tra­tes how fle­xi­ble funding can attract leading in­ter­na­tio­nal re­se­ar­chers to Germany and bring in further ex­cep­tio­nal talent, thereby fos­te­ring an en­vi­ron­ment with great in­ter­na­tio­nal appeal for early-career re­se­ar­chers,” says Marion Müller, a member of the Ma­nage­ment Board of Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft.

In­au­gu­ral Lecture on May 12

On Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 4 pm, a sci­en­ti­fic col­lo­qui­um with Julian Thayer will take place in the Karl-West­phal Lecture Hall at the De­part­ment of Psych­ia­try (Charité Mitte Campus, Bon­hoef­fer­weg 3, Main Buil­ding), which will also serve as the setting for his in­au­gu­ral lecture. The lecture, titled “Sex Dif­fe­ren­ces in De­pres­si­on: A Neu­ro­vis­ceral In­te­gra­ti­on Per­spec­tive,” pro­mi­ses to offer ex­ci­ting in­sights for anyone in­te­rested in af­fec­tive dis­or­ders, bio­lo­gi­cal psych­ia­try, psy­cho­the­ra­py, pre­ven­ti­on re­se­arch, and in­no­va­ti­ve tre­at­ment ap­proa­ches.