Eric J. Lenze MD

Dr. Lenze is the Wallace & Lucille Renard Professor of Psychiatry, the Director of the Healthy Mind Lab, and the incoming Chair of the Department of Psychiatry (effective August 1st, 2022) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Lenze is a clinical trialist who has successfully advanced evidence-based medicine for depression, anxiety, and cognitive disorders in older adults. In a series of successful and ongoing clinical trials, he has tested the benefits and risks of antidepressants, deprescribing, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and exercise.

Dr. Lenze has also advanced the concept of the Precision Clinical Trial, a framework for using clinical trials to advance precision medicine in neurobehavioral disorders.

His other area of interest is the incorporation of mobile and internet technology into clinical trials, including Decentralized (or fully remote) Clinical Trials which recruit a national patient sample from a single expert investigative site. Decentralized Clinical Trials provide a significant pragmatic and methodological advance over traditional multi-site clinical trials. Dr. Lenze’s team has pioneered the use of multiple aspects of Decentralized Clinical Trials, including e-consent, remote screening and assessment, and remote interventions. He is also the head of the mHealth Research Core at Washington University, which provides expertise and resources to investigators using mHealth in their research studies.