McLean Hospital in Belmont is opening a new center that will offer the ketogenic diet as a treatment option for adults with serious psychiatric disorders, backed by a $20 million investment tied to the launch of a worldwide network called the Global Network for the Advancement of Metabolic Psychiatry, or MetPsy. The hospital plans to start small, taking in roughly 50 to 75 patient referrals during the center's first year before ramping up to 75 referrals annually.
A New Center Built Around Diet and Brain Chemistry
McLean announced Wednesday that it received the $20 million grant to create the center, according to The Boston Globe. The funding, part of the broader MetPsy launch, will support what the hospital describes as three pillars: clinical care, research, and education and training, per the same report. Dr. Dost Öngür, who directs the new center and chairs McLean's psychotic disorders division, told the Globe that clinicians there will be able to offer metabolic interventions, with a particular focus on the ketogenic diet, to adults with psychiatric disorders.
Mass General Brigham, the health system that includes McLean, describes the effort as combining specialized clinical care, research and education in one program. The care team will include psychiatrists, nurses, registered dietitians, and case managers, according to Mass General Brigham. The health system frames metabolic psychiatry broadly as an emerging field examining the connection between metabolism and mental health, rather than a settled treatment approach.
MetPsy's Global Launch
The center's opening coincides with the public debut of MetPsy itself, which describes itself on its website as a global community of scientists and clinicians scaling research, education, and clinical care in metabolic psychiatry. The MetPsy platform is designed for researchers and clinicians, offering networking, discussion forums, expert tools and resources, along with free, accredited CME/CE courses and updates on new learning opportunities. A five-part CME lecture series on ketogenic therapies in metabolic psychiatry launched this month, the site notes.
According to the Eagle-Tribune, the $20 million gift came from Baszucki Group, which said it was granted to build the clinical and research center at McLean and to support medical education and training initiatives co-led by MH². Baszucki Group launched in 2021, and the organization says it leverages grantmaking, impact investing, advocacy, storytelling and community building to drive change across science, medicine, farming, food and environmental ecosystems. Yan Allison Baszucki said the family is committed to advancing metabolic psychiatry worldwide and hopes others will join to expand access to evidence-based metabolic interventions, according to the Eagle-Tribune account. Dr. Christopher Palmer said the initiative is establishing evidence and training protocols to support multiple dimensions of metabolic psychiatry, the Eagle-Tribune reported.
McLean's Track Record With Ketogenic Research
This is not Baszucki Group's first McLean collaboration. In February 2024, the organization announced a partnership with McLean on a clinical trial testing a therapeutic ketogenic diet for bipolar disorder, according to Baszucki Group. That outpatient, randomized controlled trial planned to enroll 50 participants with early bipolar disorder, and Baszucki Group gave McLean a $2 million gift for the ReThink Bipolar research program as the first grant in that effort.
McLean's Metabolic and Mental Health Program separately lists active and not-yet-recruiting research trials covering bipolar disorder, psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD and other serious mental illnesses, according to the McLean Hospital Metabolic and Mental Health Program. The program also lists clinical trials involving metabolic and mental health interventions. Baszucki Group's own account of the field states that more than a dozen clinical trials of ketogenic therapy for serious mental illness are now completed or underway, covering conditions that include major depression, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and anorexia.
An Evidence Base Still Taking Shape
Metabolic psychiatry remains an emerging field, with clinical research into ketogenic therapies for serious mental illness ongoing.
Education and training are also part of efforts to advance the field. Clinical trials of ketogenic metabolic therapy are also underway.
What McLean Brings to the Table
McLean was named the number-one psychiatry hospital in 2024 and is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and a member of Mass General Brigham. The hospital also serves as a teaching affiliate for Harvard Medical School. MetPsy's organizers say the resulting center will demonstrate the feasibility of integrated metabolic care and provide an operational blueprint for other academic medical centers worldwide, pairing clinical and research expertise with what is described as the first mental health care service focused on ketogenic therapy within a large, established institution.
