Eric Ruhe MD, PhD

Prof. Dr. Eric Ruhe is an expert psychiatrist and professor in the treatment of (difficult-to-treat) depressive disorders. In addition to his clinical work, he is experienced in clinical trials, intervention research, and network meta-analyses. He is especially interested in the underlying mechanisms of disease in affective disorders. He therefore uses neuroimaging, neuropsychological tests, extensive laboratory testing, passive monitoring, and Ecological Momentary Assessments to obtain insight into neurobiological factors, among others, in the recurrence of depression.

Prof. Dr. Ruhe received (or participated in) several prestigious (inter-)national grants. He conducted a double blind dose-escalation study in SSRIs (PhD) and is currently leading/involved in several projects. He previously participated in, e.g., The PREDiCT-study (investigating the prediction of antidepressant outcome by face recognition), the MOMENT-study (investigating MBCT with/without antidepressants as a recurrence prevention strategy; ZonMW), and the DELTA study (Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam).

In 2011, Prof. Dr. Ruhe initiated the DELTA-neuroimaging study, including specific neuropsychological measurements and functional MRI-scanning in remitted unmedicated MDD-patients (≥2 episodes) and healthy controls. This study is continued with the Smartphone Applications against recurrence in depression (SMARD) study. He collaborates closely with researchers in the Donders Center, where a large expertise in neuroimaging is available. He has extensive (inter-)national collaborations.

Prof. Dr. Ruhe is a member of the executive board of the International Society of Affective Disorders (ISAD), is the chair of the ECNP Abstract and Poster Committee, and participated in scientific committees of various national and international conferences. He co-chaired the Dutch multidisciplinary guideline Depression (2024) and the Multidisciplinary Documents discontinuation of SSRIs & SNRIs and other antidepressants. He regularly teaches colleagues at an (inter)national level.