Brandi Quintanilla, DO, MS

Biography

Dr. Brandi Quintanilla is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UTHealth Houston and a contract tele-psychiatrist at San Antonio State Hospital. She completed her Psychiatry Research Track residency training at UTHealth Houston and previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she studied biomarkers and mechanisms underlying treatment-resistant depression and rapid-acting antidepressants.

Dr. Quintanilla’s research focuses on the biological mechanisms underlying mood disorders, with particular emphasis on mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroimmune signaling, and metabolic contributors to depression. Her work integrates translational biomarker approaches, including extracellular vesicles, cell-free mitochondrial DNA, and inflammatory signaling pathways to better understand treatment-resistant depression and related psychiatric conditions.

Her emerging independent research examines the intersection of metabolic disease and depression, particularly the role of neuronal mitochondrial dysfunction as a shared mechanism linking dysglycemia and mood disorders. Her future research interests include developing CNS-relevant peripheral biomarkers using neuron-derived extracellular vesicles to better understand biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric and metabolic comorbidity. She is particularly interested in applying these translational approaches to better understand psychiatric and metabolic health disparities in underserved and border health populations that experience disproportionately high rates of co-occurring metabolic disease and depression, including how chronic metabolic dysfunction, delayed diabetes diagnosis, limited healthcare access, and socioeconomic stressors contribute to depressive symptom burden and long-term mental health outcomes.

She has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications in journals including Molecular Psychiatry, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Translational Psychiatry, Cells, and Neurobiology of Disease. She has presented her work nationally and internationally through organizations including the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Quintanilla has received multiple national research honors and travel awards from organizations including the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Institute of Mental Health.