Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS

@umarchatterjee.bsky.social

1717 Followers 1856 Following

🧠Neuro PhD Candidate＋NIH TL1 Fellow studying #OCD & #psychedelics @Cahill-Lab.bsky.social 🍄 | Bridging #MentalHealth research🤝lived experience | SciComm＋Advocacy Podcast🎙️A Chat with Uma | #DisabledInSTEM | Council - One Mind🎗️| umarchatterjee.com 🔗

Graphic announcing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2026 Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award. The dark blue graphic features the NIH logo at the top, the title “2026 NIH Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award,” a professional headshot of Uma R. Chatterjee, and a description of the award program. Along the bottom is the Cahill Lab logo and the title of the recipient’s research project: “Bridging Genetic Risk to Neurobiological Mechanisms: A Region-Specific, Reverse-Translational Approach to OCD Pathophysiology.” Verbatim transcription National Institutes of Health Turning Discovery Into Health 2026 NIH OUTSTANDING SCHOLARS IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD 2026 RECIPIENT The Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award Program (OSNAP) is designed to recognize those who are conducting exceptional neuroscience research across the nation and have great academic potential in their scientific training. UMA R. CHATTERJEE, MS PhD Candidate – Cahill Lab Neuroscience Training Program University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (Vertical text on right side) NIH OSNAP 2026 Bottom banner: CAHILL LAB BRIDGING GENETIC RISK TO NEUROBIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS: A REGION-SPECIFIC, REVERSE-TRANSLATIONAL APPROACH TO OCD PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Podcast episode description text reads: “On episode 51 of A Chat with Uma, I sit down with Dr. Boris Heifets, MD, PhD—associate professor at Stanford, anesthesiologist, neuroscientist, & one of the most extraordinary scientists & clinicians who is truly revolutionizing mental health! He pushes the boundaries of how we approach consciousness, mental health, & pharmacology—asking questions most people are too afraid to traverse: Do we need to be awake for drugs to heal the brain? What exactly are ketamine, MDMA, & psilocybin doing when they flip a circuit? Could anesthesiology itself hold keys to psychiatry’s future? And yet what makes Boris remarkable isn’t only the science—it’s who he is. Over two hours, he shares not just his cutting-edge research but his story: moving from Moscow to the U.S., struggling with belonging, discovering MDMA & LSD in college, & how those experiences of connection still shape his lab’s vision today. We explore MDMA for OCD & autism, the limits of “magic bullet” thinking, why context & lifestyle matter more than a single intervention, & how anesthesiology lets him practice applied neuroscience in real time. If you want to understand where psychiatry is heading & hear from one of field’s foremost minds, this is an episode you cannot miss.” A bright green circular play button appears in the upper right corner.
Split promotional graphic for the podcast "A Chat with Uma." The left side features a smiling man in glasses and a light purple blazer over a pink-and-blue checkered shirt, standing outdoors with blurred greenery behind him. A soft rainbow gradient overlays the image. The right side has a black background and includes the colorful brain-flower podcast logo at the top, followed by the text: "A Chat with Uma" by Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS Large headline: "Tripping In Your Sleep:" Subheadline: "Psychedelics, The Placebo Effect, & How Human Connection Heals the Brain with Dr. Boris Heifets." Along the bottom are icons for Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Orange icon (possibly Overcast), Spotify, and RSS.
• Introduction & welcome to Dr. Ya’el Courtney • State intervention, bouncing between homes, & the decision to stay alive • Shoplifting for food & clothes; straight-A validation at school • Anorexia → bulimia → binge eating: control in chaos • Self-harm as dopamine; reading the DSM & misdiagnosing herself a “psychopath” • Forged transcripts, expulsions, confession, & landing at Kent State • Working 40 h/week while carrying a full course load & unpaid lab hours • Strep + mono, months of cognitive fog, & a commitment to protect sleep • Summer REUs, research productivity, & graduating debt-free • Seven grad school offers—strategy, letters, & the essay that changed everything • Choosing a PhD mentor who defended boundaries & a 50-hour work cap • PhD findings: choroid plexus secretory “balloons,” 5-HT2C signaling, & prenatal drug risk • LSD, psilocybin, & why pregnant or breastfeeding people should avoid them (for now) • COVID’s silver lining: new funding for post-viral brain research • Stanford postdoc: unraveling immune-triggered neurodegeneration in long COVID & Lyme • Making science accessible: “Let the Data Speak” • Closing reflections: turning survival skills into a blueprint for the next generation
Podcast cover for “A Chat with Uma.” On the left side is Dr. Ya’el Courtney, a smiling woman with long brown hair, a striped blue button-down shirt, and small hoop earrings. The background is a gradient of rainbow tones. On the right is the podcast branding, featuring a rainbow-colored brain and leaf logo above the title. The text reads: ⸻ Full Transcription of Text on the Image: A Chat with Uma By Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS From Foster Care to Harvard Neuroscientist: The Choice to Live, Maternal Psychedelics, & Post-Viral Chronic Illnesses with Dr. Ya’el Courtney [Icons for Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and RSS Feed appear at the bottom.]
A podcast analytics screenshot for A Chat with Uma showing the geographic location of listeners under the “Audience” tab. The view is set to “All platforms.” The top five countries are listed with their respective percentages: United States (77.1%), Canada (6%), United Kingdom (4.2%), Australia (2.6%), and Sweden (1.6%). At the bottom, there’s a red-circled link labeled “Show all (49),” indicating the podcast has listeners in 49 countries.
episode 41 of A Chat with Uma, we pick up right where we left off with Dr. Maya Schumer-a psychiatric neuroscientist who studies bipolar disorder, the very illness she lives with. In Part 2, Maya walks us through her PhD and Postdoc research thus far: the largest functional-MRI meta-analysis ever published at the time, 3 independent risk-cohort replications, and analyzing first-episode mania datasets. We dig into the honest reality of doing cutting-edge science while your brain is the very object of study-managing chronic suicidality, navigating disclosure, unlearning internalized (& reinforced) stigma, and redefining resilience beyond survival. Dr. Maya Schumer is a psychiatric neuroscientist & postdoctoral researcher who studies—& has lived experience with-Bipolar Disorder. Maya received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2023 mentored by Dr. Mary Phillips, where she used task-based functional neuroimaging & coordinate-based meta-analysis to identify reproducible & replicable neural network markers of bipolar disorder risk. Currently, Maya is a postdoctoral fellow at McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Mentored by Dr. Dost Öngür, Maya examines resting-state functional connectivity patterns & neural network dynamics across different stages & mood states in bipolar disorder, with an overall goal to model its dynamic nature.
(00:14:00) Artist → neuroscientist plot-twist (00:17:46) Creativity, bipolar, & the Kaye Redfield Jamison spark (00:20:26) How & why we met on X/Twitter, defying the norms of academia, & building a movement together (00:26:30) Ableism in research spaces & how we fight back (00:31:34) Childhood in bipolar's shadow: therapy at three & "casserole syndrome" (00:38:42) Stigma lessons, dignity, & mourning a living ghost (00:43:02) College crash: color-coding moods → diagnosis at 20 (00:46:30) Types | & Il, mixed states, spectrum-& living every corner of it (00:53:00) Compliance # acceptance: owning the illness vs. just taking meds (01:05:52) Losing sleep, losing friendships, & the 24/7 second job of self-monitoring (01:17:46) Seasonal mood whiplash & March-mania defenses (01:22:54) Keto, & lithium 2.0 (01:34:12) Daily IV ketamine, accelerated TMS, & pluralism (01:44:30) A brutally honest convo about chronic suicidality (01:52:00) Redefining stability, building lived-experience science
On episode 40 of A Chat with Uma, I sit down with my o friend Dr. Maya Schumer-a psychiatric neuroscientist who studies bipolar disorder, the very illness she lives with. She shares her full experience across 3 decades: growing up with a father with bipolar 1 disorder, how her own bipolar 2 diagnosis morphed into bipolar 1, several hospitalizations, her relationship with lithium, chronic suicidality, metabolic psychiatry, IV ketamine, TMS, & redefining "stability." If you've ever struggled with chronic suicidality, felt the weight of stigma in academia, or questioned what makes life worth holding onto-this conversation is for you. Maya's story is one of survival, honesty, & the power of turning pain into purpose. Dr. Maya Schumer is a psychiatric neuroscientist & postdoctoral researcher who studies—& has lived experience with-Bipolar Disorder.
A podcast promotional graphic for “A Chat with Uma” by Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS. The left side features a woman with shoulder-length brown hair holding a sign for a Reddit AMA. The sign says “WORLD BIPOLAR DAY - ASK ME ANYTHING - MAYA SCHUMER.” The right side has a black background with a colorful brain logo and text: A CHAT WITH UMA By Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS Why Is My Brain Trying To Kill Me? Living With Bipolar I Disorder & Chronic Suicidality with Dr. Maya Schumer Podcast icons for Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and RSS are at the bottom. Transcription: Left side (sign held by Dr. Maya Schumer): “WORLD BIPOLAR DAY ASK ME ANYTHING MAYA SCHUMER” Text above the sign: “BIGGEST BIPOLAR DISORDER Q&A STARTS MARCH 19, 2025 ON” followed by the Reddit logo Text below the sign: “R/IAMA REDDIT × CREST.BD U/CRE” Right side (podcast title): A CHAT WITH UMA By Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS Why Is My Brain Trying To Kill Me? Living With Bipolar I Disorder & Chronic Suicidality with Dr. Maya Schumer (Streaming platform icons along the bottom: Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and RSS)
A digital graphic features the One Mind logo at the top, consisting of a yellow Möbius strip with a white triangle inside it. Below the logo, bold black text reads “ONE MIND™.” Below the logo, a LinkedIn post states: “Started New Position at One Mind” “Today — One Mind” Below this, the post reads: “I’m ecstatic to share that I’m starting a new position as a One Mind Lived Experience Council (OMLEC) Member at One Mind!”
Uma, a smiling woman stands in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol holding a handmade sign that reads: “MENTAL ILLNESS. CANCER SURVIVOR. SCIENCE IS WHY I AM ALIVE TODAY” She is wearing a black coat and standing among other attendees at a rally. Above her, a large printed sign with a blue Statue of Liberty and bold red and white text promotes the “Stand Up for Science 2025” rally. Other people in the background are holding signs and engaging in the event.
umarchatterjee W Drumroll... The next season of @AChatWithUma launches in ONE week!!! % • On @AChatWithUma, we explore our true human experiences in their fullest forms. I harness my uniquely intersecting roles as a mental health neuroscientist AND lived experience advocate to bridge the gap between research & lived experience. The podcast brings together the world's leading mental health researchers, clinicians, experts, & lived experience advocates to create a space of inclusive + accessible science communication, growth, empowerment, curiosity, vulnerability, and shared humanity! Threaded with my own unfiltered, raw, & honest journey through mental illness recovery, healing, & life lessons, because... I'm always walking the walk, right alongside you. ❤️
A promotional video for the new season of the podcast ‘A Chat with Uma,’ hosted by Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS, set to premiere on February 10, 2025. First, there is a countdown of 5-4-3-2-1. Then, the video features a vibrant, artistic portrait of Uma Chatterjee with rainbow hues. The podcast title and host details are displayed on a black background, along with the handle ‘@UmaRChatterjee.’ The design includes a circular rainbow and neural imagery, with the text ‘New Season Coming Soon’ prominently featured at the bottom.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON W MyGradPortal Chatterjee, Uma Campus ID: EmplID: NetID: Enrolled Programs Program Name Neuroscience PHD Life Sciences Communication GMIN Type Major Minor
The image text reads: Started position as President of OCD Wisconsin Today — OCD Wisconsin It includes a partial logo of trees within a circular border.
A vibrant image of Uma R. Chatterjee smiling in a lab setting. Uma wears a mint green hoodie, purple gloves, and a red hair scarf, with colorful butterfly clips in her hair. She holds a pipette in one hand and a test tube in the other, surrounded by scientific equipment. The background features a whimsical illustration of a racetrack and racecar, symbolizing Vanellope von Schweetz. Overlay text reads “Uma R. Chatterjee, M.S., MHPS” and “Neuroscientist and Mental Health Advocate.”
Jiyeong at podium with slide in background. Carolyn at table next to podium.
Connor and Uma sitting in an Uber, smiling!
Uma smiling brightly and giving a thumbs-up gesture while seated on an airplane. She is wearing a black puffer jacket and a black shirt. The image has a retro Polaroid-style filter with light flares and a “Polaroid SLR680” label at the bottom.
Uma, a smiling individual wearing a white lab coat and blue gloves - posing in a science laboratory, holding up a peace sign. The background features shelves stocked with lab supplies, a pink plush elephant for OCD awareness, and a string of Uma’s photos displayed with clothespins on her lab bench.
Mike and Uma smiling, holding a Pepsi and coffee in a cheers position. Screenshot of email notification saying, “HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program 11m ago HHMI: Confirmation of Receipt of App... Dear Uma Chatterjee, Thank you for submitting your application for the HHMI 2025 Gilliam Fellows Competition. Thank you, The Gilliam Team”
ORCHARD OCD Conference FOR PATIENTS AND FAMILIES Advancing Global OCD Research 30TH NOVEMBER 2024 WHY IS RESEARCH SO POWERFUL WHEN IT IS DESIGNED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE EXPERTS? 3 panelists in person with 2 panelists virtually / Uma R. Chatterjee Studio Tobias Hauser FIND FILTER UND ORCHARD Advancing Global OCD Research Blended Intervention to prevent OCD relapse ORCH/ ill Studio PANEL DISCUSSION WITH: LEIGH WALLBANK, CATHERINE BENFIELD, UMA R. CHATTERJEE M.S. MHPS, JOSIE MILLAR PH.D, AND TOBIAS HAUSER PH.D
Receipt for purchase of Disabled in STEM merch! Tshirt with DIS logo DETAILS DisabledInSTEM Light Logo • Red Crewneck Sweatshirt (1) • Black Premium Unisex Tee (1)
Uma in front of a microphone singing at the House of Blues. Javier, the guitarist, in the background. House of blues drumset in back.
ALBA NETWORK, a division of FENS ALBA WEBINAR SERIES Breaking down the ivory tower The power of self-awareness: advocating for accessible neuroscience research 3 December 2024 - 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET Dr. Dionna Williams Emory University, US Uma R. Chatterjee University of Wisconsin-Madison, US #InternationalDayofPersonswithDisabilities