Lief Ericsson Fenno, M.D., Ph.D.

Lief Ericsson Fenno, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dell Medical School and an assistant professor of neuroscience in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. His clinical specialty is the medical management of addiction, with a focus on the use of medication-assisted treatment, including buprenorphine and methadone, for the treatment of opioid use disorder.

Fenno received his bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience and M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed the Adult Psychiatry Residency at Stanford Hospital and clinics, and he is board-certified in adult psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Additionally, he completed postdoctoral training in bioengineering at Stanford University.

Leveraging his strengths in neuroscience research and bioengineering, his scientific goal is to design, construct, validate and apply novel molecular and viral tools to understand the brain in health and disease for the benefit of diverse patient populations. His specific research interests include the development and application of novel molecular tools that enable precision manipulation of targeted neuron populations in awake, behaving subjects. Fenno directs a laboratory focused on expanding the use of novel molecular and viral approaches, with the objective of precisely establishing links between neuron circuitry and behavior.