Daniel R. Weinberger (born 1947) is a professor of psychiatry, neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University[3] and Director and CEO of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development,[4] which opened in 2011.
[10] In 2012, Weinberger became a professor of psychiatry, neurology and neuroscience at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins University.
[11] Weinberger is most known for his work on identifying genetic factors and biochemical mechanisms in mental illness, and promoting research in these areas to further explain causes behind disorders such as schizophrenia.
[13] [7] He is an expert in the neurobiological mechanisms of genetic risk for developmental brain disorders, such as the gene that codes for catecho-O-methyltransferase (COMT), the enzyme that breaks down the chemical messenger dopamine.
[14] Weinberger discovered that a tiny variation in this gene slightly increases risk for schizophrenia, a discovery which Science Magazine ranked as the second most important scientific breakthrough of 2003.