Greer Murphy M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology-Adult), Emeritus

Bio

30+ years of experience practicing general and geriatric psychiatry, and addiction medicine - inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, crisis residential, partial hospitalization, hospital consult, and telemedicine.

Board Certified in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and in the new medical specialty of Addiction Medicine

Trained hundreds of resident physicians and medical students in inpatient and emergency room psychiatry and addiction medicine

23 years of experience as director of NIH-funded laboratory performing molecular biology and genetics

Extensive publication record in the neurobiology of Alzheimer’s disease, and in pharmacogenetics.

Licensed to practice Medicine in California, Hawaii, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia

Former Instructor PE 177 (Circuit Aerobic Weight Training). Led legions of students and postdocs in an early morning, nonstop, high intensity cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, agility, and plyometric workout.

Academic Appointments

Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Honors & Awards

Mrazek Award for Psychiatric Pharmacogenomics, American Psychiatric Association (2019)
Board Certified, Addiction Medicine, ABPM (ABMS) (2018)
Board Certified, Psychiatry, ABPN
Board Certified, Geriatric Psychiatry, ABPN
Fellow, American Society of Addiction Medicine
Fellow, American Psychiatric Association
Best Doctors in America, Best Doctors, Inc.
Knight Fellow Favorite Professor, Stanford University
Alpha Omega Alpha, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
G. Milton Shy Award, American Academy of Neurology
Phi Beta Kappa, The George Washington University

Professional Education

M.D., University of California, Davis (1986)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (1984)
B.A., The George Washington University (1974)

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

Over the years my laboratory addressed scientific problems related to neuroscience, genetics, psychiatry, neurology and addiction medicine. Initially, we investigated expression of beta amyloid and related markers in Alzheimer’s disease brain. Simultaneously we developed cell culture models using astrocytes and microglia to investigate production of cytokines by glia, thus defining the inflammatory repertoire of these cells. Next, we began human genetics studies to assess the effect of the APOE epsilon 4 allele on clinical phenotypes in Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. We then employed organotypic hippocampal explant cultures to study glial-neuronal interactions. This involved utilizing confocal microscopy to image cells in the 3-dimentional hippocampal cultures, as well as implementing PCR techniques for quantifying gene expression in minute volumes of tissue. Ultimately, we developed a microglia-hippocampal co-culture model with genetically engineered exogenous microglia to study cell-cell inflammatory processes. With this model we discovered novel effects of inflammatory cytokines on neurons. We also engineered endogenous microglia in the organotypic cultures using biolistics, to confirm results obtained in the co-cultures. We were early adopters of microarray technology for studying gene expression as well as for genotyping and DNA sequencing. We applied microarray approaches to gene expression in transgenic mouse models for Alzheimer’s disease, identifying a variety of markers induced by brain amyloid beta. Simultaneously, we were among the first to apply microarray technology to genotyping for markers for clinical medication response, adverse reactions, and metabolism. Finally, we performed large scale genotyping studies to identify markers for antidepressant response and response to medications for smoking cessation.

2023-24 Courses

Independent Studies
- Directed Reading in Psychiatry
  PSYC 299 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Graduate Research
  PSYC 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Medical Scholars Research
  PSYC 370 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Teaching in Psychiatry
  PSYC 290 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, or Directed Reading
  PSYC 199 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)

All Publications

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