Yuval Neria, PhD

Yuval Neria is Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at Columbia University, Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, and Director of Trauma and PTSD at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). Neria's body of work was deeply influenced by his extensive war experiences. He was injured in the Yom Kippur 1973 War and at the age of 22 was awarded the Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for combat bravery in Israel. 

Dr. Neria joined Columbia University Medical Center in 2002, and since then has led and collaborated on numerous studies in trauma and PTSD. He has studied prisoners of war and war veterans, civilians exposed to terrorism and disasters, and recently people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address major gaps in availability of mental health treatments for service members and their family members, he founded the Columbia-NYP Military Family Wellness Center in 2016, where both veterans and family members can receive free, evidence-based care to address their PTSD, depression and anxiety problems. In addition, he has co-founded and co-directed the Man O’ War Project dedicated to developing and test the efficacy of equine assisted therapy for PTSD.  

Neria’s lab is focused on studies aiming to identify brain markers for trauma, PTSD, and resilience. By using advanced multimodal imaging approaches, his lab has developed innovative methods to characterize deficits in fear and reward processing, systematically mapping PTSD biotypes, and has successfully identified biomarkers of clinical improvement in PTSD patients undergoing a range of therapeutic approaches. Neria is the Principal Investigator on a multi-site randomized clinical trial investigating the efficacy of Transcendental Meditation (TM) for veterans and first responders diagnosed with PTSD.  

Neria’s research has been supported by NIMH, philanthropy, and private foundations since 2004. He has authored more than 220 scientific articles and book chapters and has edited four textbooks focusing on the nature and treatment of the mental health consequences of trauma.