University of Washington (SIBCR)

Dr. Murray Raskind received his BA from Brown University and his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed internal medicine residency at the Columbia Harlem Hospital Center and subsequent psychiatry residency at the University of Washington. Dr. Raskind currently is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and directs the Veterans Affairs Northwest Network (VISN 20) Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Past leadership positions include: Director of the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at VA Puget Sound, Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at VA Puget Sound, and Director of the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Dr. Raskind discovered that prazosin, an antiadrenergic drug originally developed to treat hypertension, is effective for combat PTSD trauma nightmares, sleep disruption, and daytime hyperarousal symptoms. Current research efforts address a precision medicine approach to prescribing prazosin for PTSD, and expanding prazosin indications to alcohol use disorder, post-concussion migraine headache, and disruptive agitation in Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Raskind was presented the 2011 John B. Barnwell Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Science by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development.