Who We Are
Alexander Bystritsky, MD, PhD — President
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at UCLA and founder/former director of the UCLA Anxiety Disorders Program and Targeted Brain Stimulation Program. As PI at CalNeuro, he oversees the medical and scientific conduct of FDA-regulated CNS trials—investigator evaluations, eligibility decisions, safety oversight, and protocol compliance—under ICH GCP. Trained at Pavlov Medical University (MD; PhD in psychopharmacology), he completed psychiatry residency at NYU–Bellevue and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA. Over 35 years, he has led or contributed to Phase I–IV trials across anxiety, depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and related areas, and helped introduce and clinically evaluate deep TMS in the U.S.
Tanya Vapnik, PhD — Vice President; Investigator & Study Rater
Dr. Vapnik serves as President of CalNeuro Research Group and as an Investigator/Study Rater on FDA-regulated, ICH GCP-compliant CNS trials. She conducts confidential diagnostic interviews and standardized rating scales at screening and follow-up, contributes to eligibility decisions in collaboration with the Principal Investigator, and supports ongoing safety documentation and data quality. Dr. Vapnik earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California Graduate Institute (1998). She began her research career at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in 1990, progressing through rater, manager, and investigator roles; she continues at UCLA as an attending psychologist in the Anxiety & Related Disorders Program. She has also served as a Principal Investigator at the Pacific Institute of Medical Research and maintains private practice. She brings 25+ years of clinical research experience.