Linking Utah's Innovation Community

Dr. Perry Renshaw is one of the top experts in the world using a technique called magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which he uses to study the effect of drug abuse on chemicals in the brain. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy can measure minute amounts of important chemicals in the brain, such as neurotransmitters and molecules that store energy – adenosnine triphosphate (ATP). Dr. Renshaw and his team at the Brain Institute aim to use this research to identify treatments for people addicted to meth, helping them overcome an addiction that can ruin families and end lives. In fact, according to the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force, the cost to Utah taxpayers for crime and medical expenses associated with the drug runs in the tens of millions.
Dr. Renshaw was also recruited from Harvard Medical School, where he directed the Brain Imaging Center at the McLean Hospital. Renshaw received an M.D. and Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Bentley College. He has received more than $17 million in research grants over his career. He has been awarded 12 patents and has 17 patents pending under his name. He has been a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Hoffman La Roche, Kyowa Hakko, and Repligen. He joined the University of Utah in Spring of 2008.
Dr. Renshaw recently published an article In the Sept. 15, 2010, online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry on the effects of high altitude on suicide. Read the article here.