Professor Kuan-Pin Su and the Mind-Body Interface Research Center (MBI-Lab)

Professor Kuan-Pin Su and the Mind-Body Interface Research Center (MBI-Lab)

Link to Chinese version

Kuan-Pin Su, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of College of Medicine, China Medical University (CMU), Taichung, TAIWAN | Deputy Superintendent of An-Nan Hospital, CMU, Tainan, TAIWAN | Director of Mind-Body Interface Research Center (MBI-Lab), CMU Hospital, TAIWAN | Honorary Faculty of Institute of Psychiatry-King's College London UK | Vice President of International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR) 

E-mail: cobol@cmu.edu.tw | ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kuan-Pin-Su/research | Research Highlight: https://sites.google.com/site/omega3su/home/research-introduction 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Lg5cdsLO0

2022/04 English Version of MBI-Lab Research (蘇冠賓 Kuan-Pin Su, MD, PhD)

Dr. Kuan-Pin Su is the Deputy Superintendent of An-Nan Hospital in Tainan, and the Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of College of Medicine and the Director of Mind-Body Interface Research Center (MBI-Lab) at the China Medical University (CMU) in Taichung, Taiwan. After graduation from Kaohsiung Medical College in 1995 (MD degree), he received his psychiatry residency training at Taipei City Psychiatric Centre. In 2008, he received his PhD and became the Honorary Faculty of the Institute of Psychiatry-King's College London.

Prof Su's team focuses on Translational Brain Research, which connects bedside to bench with novel interdisciplinary approaches of AI technology, neuroimages, genomic, randomized-controlled trials (RCTs), cellular and molecular biology, by integrating basic sciences and clinical significance (e.g. pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, phytochemicals, acupuncture, photobiomodulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation). Prof Su is a pioneer in nutritional psychiatric research. He is the founding president of Taiwanese Society of Nutritional Psychiatry Research (TSNPR), and one of the five founding committee members and now the Vice President of International Society of Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR). He is a Board Director of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids (ISSFAL) and an Associate Editor of the Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (BBI).

According the h-index (ELSVIER since 2021) in the research field of “omega‐3 fatty acids in depression”, Prof Su is the top one cited PI in the world. His significant contribution on the role of omega-3 fatty acids has opened the excitement and innovation of therapeutic strategies and provided major insights into the biological mechanisms of depression. He published milestone research about the role of omega-3 fatty acids in perinatal depression, interferon-induced depression, and comorbid depression in cardiovascular diseases. For example, he is one of the first to study the antidepressant effects of omega-3 PUFAs. The most relevant paper in this field has been cited for more than 823 times since 2003 and the first meta-analysis has been cited for more than 918 times since 2007 (GOOGLE SCHOLAR in April 2023). Prof Su also published the first study to demonstrate omega-3 PUFAs’ antidepressant effects in pregnant women with major depression (Su et al., 2008). His pioneer works about the role of omega-3 PUFAs in perinatal depression (2008), dementia (2008) and interferon-induced depression (2010) have also been highly cited for near five hundred times each.  

He has received prestigious research awards from professional societies, including Professor Robert Kerwin International Award from the British Association for Psychopharmacology (UK, 2008), the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (USA, 2008-2010), the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) New Investigator Award (2010 & 2012), the National Science Council Ta-You Wu Memorial Award (2011), GlaxoSmithKline Depression and Anxiety Award (2011), Thomson Reuters Research Front Awards (2011), USA Psychiatric Research Society Annual Meeting Travel Award (2012), Pacific Rim Psychiatrist College Young Psychiatrists Award (2012), Psychopharmacology Award from the British Association for Psychopharmacology (2013), ISSFAL Early Career Award (2016), China Medical University Distinguishing Professor (2018) and Taiwan MoST Outstanding Research Award (ORA) (2019). And according to ExpertScape (www.expertscape.com/ex/depression/c/tw), Prof Su is the top one cited expert in Taiwan in the field of depression. In addition, he is one of the top 10-most cited Taiwanese scientists during 2006-2010 and therefore awarded by the Thomson Reuters Research Front Awards in 2011. 

Prof Su has been actively involved in international academic societies and is an opinion leader in the field of nutritional psychiatry. He is one of the five founding committee members of the ISNPR and the current Board Directors of ISSFAL. He organized an ISNPR advisory sub-committee and published the first “Practice Guidelines for Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder” in Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics (IF 26). Collaborating with international colleagues, he has published important papers in several high-impact journals, such as World Psychiatry (IF 79), Lancet Psychiatry (IF 77), JAMA Psychiatry (IF 27), Brain Behavior Immunity (IF 19), Molecular Psychiatry (IF 14), and Biological Psychiatry (IF 13), which have significantly contributed to the development of this field. Prof Su is actively involved in international collaborations, including joint projects with Polish National Centre for Research, UK Royal Society, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (USA) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Furthermore, Professor Su has been organized the Mind-Body Interface International Symposium in 11 consecutive years (2010-21), by which this team aims to promote Taichung as a global landmark of translational psychosomatic medicine, and to engage interdisciplinary research from Asia to the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof Su has been publishing high-impact articles about pandemic impacts on mental health.

In the future, Prof Su and his colleagues at the MBI-Lab will keep looking for the novel remedy for depression and the understanding to interface for mind and body.