Professional background
Pedro Zuzarte
Psychiatrist. PhD in Medicine.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
From specialist training to academia
- 2007MedicineNOVA University Lisbon
- 2009Specialist training in PsychiatryHospital de Santa Maria
- 2012TorontoUniversity of Toronto
- 2014SpecialistPsychiatry, Portuguese Medical Association
- 2015SudburyHealth Sciences North
- 2019PhDUniversity of Lisbon
- 2019Assistant ProfessorFaculty of Medicine
- 2022Psychedelic-assisted therapy programmeCentro Clínico das Janelas Verdes
- PresentClinical practice, teaching and researchLisbon
Current roles
Clinical
Psychiatrist
Private practice in Lisbon. He was Head of Department at the Centro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs, until 2024.
Academic
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Researcher at PsyLab, ISAMB.
Education
Course director
«Introduction to Psychedelic Therapy: Research and Clinical Practice», Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Coordinator of the Master's in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation.
Emerging therapies
Director of KETAMED Portugal
Psychedelic-assisted therapy with clinical assessment and specialist oversight.
Clinical
Clinical practice
In Psychiatry since 2009 and a specialist registered with the Portuguese Medical Association since 2014. He was Head of Department at the Centro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs, until 2024. A pioneer in developing psychedelic-assisted therapy programmes in Portugal.
He completed his specialist training in Psychiatry at Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon, between 2009 and 2014. He has been a psychiatrist at the Centro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs, since 2009, where in 2022 he created the psychedelic-assisted therapy programme.
He was a member of the Technical Committee for the Monitoring of the Mental Health Reform, Ministry of Health (2018–2019). In his practice he sees people with mood, anxiety, sleep and cognitive disorders, and with psychiatric symptoms associated with physical illness.
Education
Teaching and medical education
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Coordinator of the Master's in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation. Director of Portugal's first university course in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
He has taught at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon since 2011 and has been Assistant Professor since 2019, at the University Clinic of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology. He teaches psychiatry, psychopathology and psychopharmacology and supervises master's and doctoral theses.
He directs the programme «Introduction to Psychedelic Therapy: Research and Clinical Practice», which brings research and clinical practice in this field into medical education, with national and international faculty.
Programme page (external site)Follow the course on Instagram (external site)
PhD
Depression, heart and cognition
He obtained his PhD in Medicine from the University of Lisbon in 2019, approved with distinction and honours by unanimous decision of the panel.
The thesis studied the pathophysiology of mood disorders and the pathways they share with cardiovascular disease. It was carried out in collaboration with the University of Toronto and Health Sciences North, in Canada.
He studied patients with heart failure and proposed NT-proBNP, a cardiac biomarker, as a possible mediator between cardiac dysfunction and depressive symptoms. He also reviewed the role of inflammation and oxidative stress as mechanisms shared by depression, cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.
Research
Mood disorders, from the heart to the brain
His research interests include the neurobiology and neurobiomarkers of mood disorders, the relationships between mental illness, cardiovascular disease and cognition, and novel pharmacological approaches in psychiatry, including the clinical use of psychedelic compounds.
He has also worked on bipolar disorder (oxidative stress and hippocampal volume) and on the Portuguese validation of assessment instruments in schizophrenia. He is a researcher at PsyLab, ISAMB, and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
This research received awards from the Canadian Psychiatric Association (2015), the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (2016) and the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine (2019).
Selected scientific publications
2018 · Journal of Psychiatric Research
NT-proBNP is a potential mediator between reduced ejection fraction and depression in patients with heart failure
Depression and heart failure
2018 · Current Drug Metabolism
Current therapeutic approaches for targeting inflammation in depression and cardiovascular disease
Inflammation, depression and cardiovascular disease
2016 · Bipolar Disorders
Dentate gyrus–cornu ammonis (CA) 4 volume is decreased and associated with depressive episodes and lipid peroxidation in bipolar II disorder
Bipolar disorder and hippocampus
- 2021Therapeutic opportunities for food supplements in neurodegenerative disease and depressionBusinaro R, … Zuzarte P · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.669846
- 2018NT-proBNP is a potential mediator between reduced ejection fraction and depression in patients with heart failureZuzarte P, Scola G, Duong A, et al. · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.06.010
- 2018Current therapeutic approaches for targeting inflammation in depression and cardiovascular diseaseZuzarte P, Duong A, Figueira ML, et al. · Current Drug Metabolism · doi:10.2174/1389200219666180305143501
- 2018Outpatient disease management program for heart failure: a multidisciplinary approach with an ambulatory intravenous diuretic therapyZuzarte P, Kostiw K, Maciukiewicz M, et al. · Insuficiencia Cardiaca
- 2016Dentate gyrus–cornu ammonis (CA) 4 volume is decreased and associated with depressive episodes and lipid peroxidation in bipolar II disorderElvsåshagen T, Zuzarte P, Westlye LT, et al. · Bipolar Disorders · doi:10.1111/bdi.12457
- 2015Oxidative stress in older patients with bipolar disorderAndreazza AC, … Zuzarte PML, et al. · The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2014.05.008
- 2014Outpatient intravenous diuretic therapy avoids emergency department visits and hospital admissions in a Northern Ontario hospitalCosta-Vitali AE, Kostiw KL, Zuzarte PL, Conlon M · Journal of Cardiac Failure (abstract) · doi:10.1016/j.cardfail.2014.06.273
- 2012The Portuguese version of the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP): reliability, validity, and relationship with cognitive measures in hospitalized and community schizophrenia patientsBrissos S, … Zuzarte P, et al. · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0412-6
Emerging therapies
Psychedelics in clinical practice
Training in psychedelic-assisted therapies from the California Institute of Integral Studies and in MDMA-assisted therapy from MAPS. In 2022, he created a pioneering psychedelic-assisted therapy programme in Portugal at the Centro Clínico das Janelas Verdes. He currently directs the first university programme dedicated to Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Portugal, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
His first contact with clinical research on psychedelics was in 2006, during an internship at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. His training at CIIS and MAPS took place in 2023 and 2024.
Full CV
Education, positions, awards, areas, languages and identifiers.
Education
- 2013–2019PhD in Medicine (Psychiatry)University of Lisbon, in collaboration with the University of Toronto and Health Sciences North. Distinction and honours.
- 2023–2024Postgraduate Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and ResearchCalifornia Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), including training in MDMA-assisted therapy (MAPS)
- 2018Senior Officer Promotion CourseMilitary University Institute
- 2009–2014Specialist training in PsychiatryHospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon
- 2000–2007Degree in MedicineNOVA University Lisbon
- 2000–2007Military training as a medical officerMilitary Academy
Positions
- since 2019Assistant Professor of PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon; teaching since 2011
- currentCoordinator of the Master's in Cardiovascular RehabilitationFaculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon
- currentDirector of the course «Introduction to Psychedelic Therapy: Research and Clinical Practice»Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon
- currentResearcherPsyLab, ISAMB, and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon
- currentDirector of KETAMED Portugal
- until 2024Head of DepartmentCentro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 2022Creation of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy ProgrammeCentro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs
- since 2009PsychiatristCentro Clínico das Janelas Verdes, Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 2018–2019Member of the Technical Committee for the Monitoring of the Mental Health ReformMinistry of Health
- 2015–2018Postdoctoral Research FellowHealth Sciences North, Sudbury, Canada
- 2013Clinical Research FellowAdvanced Medical Research Institute of Canada
- 2012Fellow in PsychiatryUniversity of Toronto, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Awards
- 2019Best Original Research Poster, 1st place25th World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine, International College of Psychosomatic Medicine, Florence
- 2016Brainetwork Award, best research work, 1st place11th National Congress of Psychiatry, Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health
- 2015Best Research Work, 1st place65th Annual Conference, Canadian Psychiatric Association
Areas
Clinical psychiatry · mood disorders · depression and cardiovascular disease · cognition · psychopharmacology · psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Languages
Portuguese, English, Spanish.
Profiles and identifiers
Academic profiles
Psychiatry Consultations in Lisbon