Gary B. Kaplan, MD

Emeritus Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Kaplan serves as the Director of the Mental Health Service and Chief of Psychiatry at VA Boston Healthcare System. His clinical and pre-clinical and research focus is within the neurobiology and neuropharmacology of addiction, schizophrenia, and conditioned fear. His research specifically examines conditioned drug reward and its extinction and is published in journals of neuroscience and pharmacology.

Dr. Kaplan currently serves on the editorial board the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. His national role in psychiatry has been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association where he was conferred as a Distinguished Fellow. He is the lead author of a text for the American Psychiatric Press Inc. for psychiatric clinicians and residents entitled Brain Circuitry and Signaling in Psychiatry which examines the functional circuitry and neurochemical pathways in psychiatric illnesses.

Dr. Kaplan is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University College of Medicine (Hahnemann). His residency training in Psychiatry and post-doctoral research training in Pharmacology were at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Publications

  • Published 3/12/2026

    Ponomareva O, Stetson SR, Meltzer B, Kim K, Kaplan GB. Effects of Prazosin and Other Alpha-1 Adrenergic Antagonist Drugs on Nightmares and Sleep Disturbances in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2026 Mar 12. PMID: 41816860.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/23/2025

    Carey SD, Gibbons AJ, Craig JA, Zhoba H, Babb JA, Kaplan GB, Zielinski MR. Acute administration of a dual orexin receptor antagonist attenuates sleep fragmentation in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury. Neuroscience. 2026 Feb 06; 594:190-202. PMID: 41448342.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/16/2024

    Levinsohn EA, Radhakrishnan V, Euting H, Kaplan GB. Pharmacological Management of Sleep-Wake Disturbances in Delirium. J Clin Pharmacol. 2025 Mar; 65(3):285-302. PMID: 39415561.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/16/2023

    Kaplan GB, Thompson BL. Neuroplasticity of the extended amygdala in opioid withdrawal and prolonged opioid abstinence. Front Pharmacol. 2023; 14:1253736. PMID: 38044942.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/25/2023

    Babb JA, Constantino NJ, Kaplan GB, Chartoff EH. Estrous cycle dependent expression of oxycodone conditioned reward in rats. Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 25; 13(1):13946. PMID: 37626154.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 75 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • Hahnemann University, MD
  • University of Pennsylvania, BA

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