Research profile

René Ernst Nielsen, Professor, Chief Physician, PhD

René Ernst Nielsen is Professor of Psychiatry at Aalborg University and Chief Physician at Psychiatry – Aalborg University Hospital. His research focuses on affective disorders, including bipolar disorder and treatment-resistant depression, as well as somatic comorbidity and excess mortality among individuals with severe mental illness. He currently leads two of the four adult psychiatry research programs at Aalborg University Hospital: one on affective disorders and another on morbidity and mortality.

He has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications and is an active member of several national and international research networks, including the ECNP Bipolar Network and PAN-HEalth group, as well as the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. Since 2022, he has served as President of the International Group for the Study of Lithium Treated Patients (IGSLI), and he holds multiple positions of trust in psychiatric academic and diagnostic committees.

René Ernst Nielsen is a regular peer reviewer for top-tier journals including JAMA Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, and Schizophrenia Bulletin. He has served as associate editor for Nordic Journal of Psychiatry and BMC Psychiatry and is on the editorial boards of several international journals. He supervises PhD students and teaches medical students in both clinical settings and research methodology.

His clinical research includes several large-scale trials, most recently as principal investigator in a phase III trial on psilocybin for major depressive disorder.