The Many Faces of UTHealth Houston: Joao de Quevedo, MD, PhD

From a quiet farm to a successful psychiatry career in Brazil, a chance conversation would propel Joao L. de Quevedo, MD, PhD, to the forefront of mental health innovation and patient care at UTHealth Houston.

His journey is a testament to perseverance, passion, and purpose, restoring hope to those he treats.

From rural roots to a life in medicine
“I was a farm boy,” de Quevedo recalls with a smile.

Born and raised on a farm in Brazil, he lived a quiet life with his parents until the age of 18. Everything changed, and his worldview widened when he moved to Porto Alegre, the capital of his home state, to attend medical school.

Unlike the U.S., Brazil allows students to enter medical school directly after high school, and for de Quevedo, that meant six years of intensive study.

Early in his training, he joined a neuroscience lab, marking the beginning of a fascination with the human brain.

“At first, I thought I’d pursue neurosurgery,” he said. “Then I considered neurology. But once I rotated through psychiatry, everything just clicked.”

Falling in love with psychiatry
Initially, research was his main goal. “I didn’t plan on working in a clinic,” he said. “I only wanted to understand how lab work applied to patient care.”

But something unexpected happened during his psychiatry residency. He began to enjoy working with people.

“I was spending all day in the hospital and doing research in my free time,” he said.
“I thought I’d finish my residency and go back to the lab, but I grew to love helping patients. It was meaningful to apply the science to improve lives.”

That shift led him to pursue a dual career — part researcher, part clinician.

“I’ve had one foot in each world ever since,” he said.

The move to Houston
In Brazil, de Quevedo built a successful career, balancing patient care and groundbreaking research. Yet something in him yearned for more professionally.

“It was like playing in the college league and dreaming of being drafted into the NFL,” he laughed.

A chance meeting at a 2013 conference in Miami would change his trajectory and give him the career opportunity he was looking for. After a brief conversation with Jair C. Soares, MD, PhD, vice president for behavioral sciences and Pat R. Rutherford, Jr. Chair in Psychiatry at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, as well as founding dean of the UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, he received a surprising invitation.

“I was planning a sabbatical year, but Dr. Soares said, ‘Why not come work with me at UTHealth Houston instead?’”

Within a few short months, de Quevedo was in Houston, helping set up research infrastructure for the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School.

Building something bigger
He joined the medical school as a professor and quickly launched the Translational Psychiatry Program. Alongside that, he began seeing patients, specifically those with treatment-resistant depression.

“These were people who had tried everything,” he said. “Sometimes, they tried 10 or more treatment plans beforehand that did not work.”

As the demand grew, so did the program. It evolved into the Center for Interventional Psychiatry at McGovern Medical School, a hub for innovative mental health therapies, including vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation.

“Our patients are the ones who have reached the end of the algorithm,” he said. “We are often their last hope. That’s where we step in with personalized plans and advanced options.”

Innovative research with national impact
De Quevedo’s team is currently a part of a national clinical trial exploring vagus nerve stimulation in patients with treatment-resistant depression. The treatment involves delivering electrical impulses to the vagus nerve to help manage depression-related symptoms.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “We’re comparing outcomes in patients with active vs. inactive devices, then following them for several years.”

With over 500 participants in the major depressive disorder arm and more underway for bipolar depression, the study represents hope for those who’ve run out of options.

“We’re seeing promising results, and it’s fulfilling to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” he said.

Teaching and simple joys
Balancing research, clinical care, and teaching isn’t easy. However, de Quevedo makes it work.

“There’s no separation anymore,” he says. “I teach while I treat. The residents, students, and research teams are all together in the clinic together learning in real time.”

When asked what has kept him at the university for more than a decade, his answer is concise, yet meaningful. “The people.”

“I love my boss, I love this city, and I’ve had the chance to grow alongside the department,” de Quevedo said while noting psychiatry faculty have grown from 50 to 200 since he joined UTHealth Houton. “I feel a deep sense of belonging.”

Off the clock, he finds joy in simple pleasures, especially spending time with his cat, Goliath.

“Coming home to Goliath is one of the best parts of my day,” he said. “It sounds silly, but it brings me so much peace.”

Words to live by
If there’s one message he hopes to share with the UTHealth Houston community, it’s this, “Here, we never give up.”

That phrase now hangs in de Quevedo’s clinic waiting room as a reminder to patients, students, and colleagues.

“Even when a treatment fails, I tell my patients: ‘Don’t worry. We’ll figure out the next step,’” he said. “We’re in this together.’”