Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Maryland School of Medicine General Psychiatry Residency

Professor of Psychiatry, Tenured, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Certificate

My research focuses on using neuroimaging, genetics, clinical trials, brain stimulation, and neurophysiological methods to study etiology of and treatment for severe mental illness and addiction.

1. Investigation on roles of brain circuitry contributing to the high rate of smoking in schizophrenia.

Hong LE, Thaker GK, McMahon RP, Summerfelt A, RachBeisel J, Fuller RL, Wonodi I, Buchanan RW, Myers C, Heishman SJ, Yang X, Nye A. Moderate dose varenicline treatment on neurobiological and cognitive biomarkers in schizophrenia smokers and non-smokers. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;68(12):1195-206.

Hong LE, Hodgkinson CA, Yang Y, Sampath H, Ross TJ, Buchholz B, Salmeron BJ, Thaker GK, Srivastava V, Goldman D, Stein EA. A genetically modulated, intrinsic cingulate circuit supports human nicotine addiction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jul 27;107(30):13509-14.

Hong LE, Gu, H, Yang YH, Ross TJ, Salmeron BJ, Buchholz B, Thaker GK, Stein EA. Nicotine addiction and Nicotine’s actions are associated with separate cingulate cortex functional circuits. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 Apr;66(4):431-41.

2. Development and refinement of key endophenotypes using state-of-the-art electrophysiology and neurophysiology methods and concepts.

Hong LE, Mitchell BD, Avila MT, McMahon RP, Adami H, Thaker GK. Familial aggregation of eye tracking endophenotypes in schizophrenia families. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Mar;63(3):259-64.

Hong LE, Summerfelt A, Wonodi I, Adami H, Buchanan RW, Thaker GK. Independent domains of inhibitory gating in schizophrenia and the effect of stimulus interval. Am J Psychiatry. 2007;164(1):61-5.

Hong LE, Summerfelt A, Mitchell BD, McMahon RP, Wonodi I, Buchanan RW, Thaker GK. Sensory gating endophenotype based on its neural oscillatory pattern and heritability estimate. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Sep;65(9):1008-16.

Chiappelli J, Pocivavsek A, Nugent KL, Notarangelo FM, Kochunov P, Rowland LM, Schwarcz R, Hong LE. Stress-induced increase in kynurenic acid as a potential biomarker for patients with schizophrenia and distress intolerance. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014 Jul 1;71(7):761-8.

Kochunov P, Huang J, Chen S, Li Y, Tan S, Fan F, Feng W, Wang Y, Rowland LM, Savransky A, Du X, Chiappelli J, Chen S, Jahanshad N, Thompson PM, Ryan MC, Adhikari B, Sampath H, Cui Y, Wang Z, Yang F, Tan Y, Hong LE. White Matter in Schizophrenia Treatment Resistance. Am J Psychiatry. 2019 Oct 1;176(10):829-838

3. Multimodal imaging approach to understand the chemical, functional, and diffusion dysfunctions in the brain of schizophrenia patients.

Rowland LM, Krause BW, Wijtenburg SA, McMahon RP, Chiappelli J, Nugent KL, Nisonger SJ, Korenic SA, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Medial frontal GABA is lower in older schizophrenia: a MEGA-PRESS with macromolecule suppression study. Mol Psychiatry. 2016 Feb;21(2):198-204

Rowland LM, Summerfelt A, Wijtenburg SA, Du X, Chiappelli JJ, Krishna N, West J, Muellerklein F, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Frontal glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid levels and their associations with mismatch negativity and digit sequencing task performance in schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Feb;73(2):166-74

Kochunov P, Rowland LM, Fieremans E, Veraart J, Jahanshad N, Eskandar G, Du X, Muellerklein F, Savransky A, Shukla D, Sampath H, Thompson PM, Hong LE. Diffusion weighted imaging uncovers likely sources of processing speed deficits in schizophrenia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Nov 22;113(47):13504-13509

Kochunov P, Coyle TR, Rowland LM, Jahanshad N,Thompson PM, Kelly S, Du X, Sampath H, Bruce H, Chiappelli J, Ryan M, FissehaF, Savransky A, Adhikari B, Chen S, Paciga SA, Whelan CD, Xie Z, Hyde CL, ChenX, Schubert CR, O'Donnell P, Hong LE. White matter and core cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry. 2017 Sep 1;74(9):958-966

4. TMS based brain stimulations to identify electrophysiology - TMS interactions, and TMS-elicited biomarker development in schizophrenia.

Du X, Kochunov P, Summerfelt A, Chiappelli J, Choa FS, Hong LE. The role of white matter microstructure in inhibitory deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Brain Stimulation 2017 Mar - Apr;10(2):283-290

Du X, Rowland LM, Summerfelt A, Wijtenburg A, Chiappelli J, Wisner K, Kochunov P, Choa FS, Hong LE. TMS evoked N100 reflects local GABA and glutamate balance. Brain Stimulation 2018 May 4. pii: S1935-861X(18)30149-9.

Du X, Rowland LM, Summerfelt A, Choa FS, Wittenberg GF, Wisner K, Wijtenberg SA, Chiappelli J, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Cerebellar-Stimulation Evoked Prefrontal Electrical Synchrony Is Modulated by GABA. Cerebellum. Cerebellum. 2018 May 15. doi: 10.1007/s12311-018-0945-2

Du X, Choa FS, Chiappelli J, Wisner KM, Wittenberg G, Adhikari B, Bruce H, Rowland LM, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Aberrant middle prefrontal-motor cortex connectivity mediates motor inhibitory biomarker in schizophrenia. Bio Psychiatry  June 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.06.007

Hong LE, Choa FS. Methods and systems for controlling magnetic fields and magnetic field induced current. PCT/US15/24054, PCT/US16/40019 (TMS related patents)