Christian Otte

Christian Otte, MD 

Christian Otte, MD / Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg, GERMANY

Dr. Christian Otte is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Between 2002 and 2004 he was a postdoctoral fellow sponsored by the German Research Foundation in the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco. His research focuses on the neurobiology of major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He is especially interested in how the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the autonomous nervous system (ANS) are involved in the aetiology and pathogenesis of these disorders and examines how variables such as history of childhood trauma or aging are associated with alterations in these stress systems. 

Furthermore, Dr. Otte studies the effects of stress hormones such as cortisol on cognition, sleep, and psychopathology. In randomized controlled trials, he examines if interventions within the HPA axis could lead to an accelerated and improved response and remission in depression. In addition, Dr. Otte is interested in the association of depression and PTSD with cardiovascular disease and if alterations of the HPA axis and ANS could mediate this association. Recently, he has become interested in the contribution of genetic factors in depression and PTSD and in HPA axis and ANS alterations. His submitted Curt Richter award paper, “Glucocorticoid receptor gene and depression in patients with coronary heart disease: The Heart and Soul Study," examines how haplotypes of the glucocorticoid receptor gene affect risk for major depression in patients with coronary heart disease.

Dr. Otte has received a young investigator award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) in 2005 and 2008, a fellowship award of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2007, and two German national awards for his work in depression and PTSD.