Together, we can transform the mental health field to improve the lives of the millions of people suffering from mental illness. 

Hello, I’m Dr. Chris Palmer.

My work focuses on the intersection of mental health and metabolism. While many people think of metabolism as simply “burning calories,” it is far more than that. Metabolism is the set of processes that powers every cell in the body, allows the body to grow and repair itself, and plays a central role in both health and disease, including disorders of the brain.

I’m an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Founder and Director of the Metabolic and Mental Health Program, Director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education, and Founder and President of MH². Over the past three decades, my work has spanned clinical care, research, education, and leadership in psychiatry.

In my book, Brain Energy, I propose that mental disorders are, at their core, metabolic disorders of the brain. This framework brings together decades of research across neuroscience, genetics, epidemiology, and clinical science. It offers a unified understanding of how biological, psychological, and social factors interact, and why mental and physical health are inseparable.

More importantly, this perspective opens the door to new approaches to treatment. Instead of focusing solely on symptom management, it points toward strategies that address underlying biology and support long-term recovery.

This work is helping to reshape the field of mental health. Clinicians, researchers, healthcare systems, and global media are increasingly recognizing the importance of metabolism in brain health and its potential to transform how we understand and treat mental illness.