Douglas G. Kondo, MD

Douglas Kondo, MD, Associate Professor (Clinical), is an adult and child psychiatrist, and brain imaging researcher who works at the Salt Lake City VA Healthcare System (SLCVAHCS), in the Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) [https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn19/]. His other appointments include the University's Huntsman Mental Health Institute, and the Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry. His research areas include clinical trials of Veterans, children and adolescents, which incorporate pre-treatment and post-treatment brain scans that measure levels of brain chemicals that are thought to be important in psychiatric disorders and substance use. He also conducts epidemiological research on the effects of altitude on regional rates of suicide, psychiatric disorders and substance use.

Dr. Kondo's translational neuroimaging clinical trials are currently focused on Suicidal Ideation (SI), Bipolar Disorder (BD), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) -- and the brain chemistry changes that associated with these conditions. Depending on the study, participants are military Veterans or adolescents, and the neuroimaging method used is Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), performed on an FDA-approved clinical MRI scanner that does not use ionizing radiation. MRS is considered safe, which allows for scans to be performed pre-treatment (i.e. at "baseline"), and then repeated after several weeks of treatment (i.e. "post-treatment"). The goal of the pre-treatment scans is to identify which of up to 25 brain chemicals are altered at baseline, in research participants who have SI, BD or MDD. Then, following treatment with an active drug or with placebo, the goal of the follow-up, post-treatment scans is to measure brain chemistry changes, in patients who respond to treatment and recover from their SI, BD or MDD. The first hypothesis underlying this work is that problems with brain energy metabolism (a.k.a. "mitochondrial dysfunction") is a contributor to mood disorders and substance use in children, adolescents and adults. A second, and related hypothesis, is that targeting brain energy metabolism with natural treatments, is one potentially effective treatment strategy.

The epidemiology studies Dr. Kondo works on utilize large, national mental illness and substance use data sets collected by research experts like the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These datasets are then combined with state and county altitude data from the Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which was collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When combined for analysis, the goal of this work is to study the association of increasing altitude with regional rates of suicide, psychiatric symptoms, substance use. The underlying hypothesis is that the phenomenon known as "hypobaric hypoxia" may be an unrecognized contributor to the burden of psychiatric illness and substance abuse. For example, ambient barometric (a.k.a. atmospheric) pressure decreases with altitude. This means that at the altitude of Salt Lake City or Denver, Colorado, the air pressure is approximately 15% lower than at Sea Level. This means that the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) is also reduced by 15%. Research has shown that this 15% reduction in FiO2 translates into a 20% reduction in the partial pressure of oxygen, in the arterial blood of human beings (PaO2). Preclinical studies have shown that this phenomenon, which is called "Hypobaric Hypoxia," alters levels of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine, that have been implicated in psychiatric illness and addiction. Taken together, Dr. Kondo's human brain imaging studies, epidemiology work with CDC data, and the Diagnostic Neuroimaging Laboratory's animal models research, constitute a three-pronged multi-directional translational research program. This means that hypotheses that are generated based upon findings from any of the three scientific disciplines, can rapidly be tested in one or both of the other two.

Prior to joining the MIRECC and Diagnostic Neuroimaging research teams, Dr. Kondo's previous positions at the School of Medicine included: inpatient child and adult psychiatry at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI), the Kidstar day treatment program for elementary school age children at UNI, the adolescent Teenscope day treatment program for middle and high school-aged students at UNI, and the Neurobehavior H.O.M.E. Program for children and adults with developmental disabilities. He formerly served as Medical Director of UNI's adolescent substance abuse intensive outpatient program. More information regarding Dr. Kondo's research work is available at the Internet website: UtahBrain.org.