CNIR Faculty

Gerard Ahern, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, GUMC
Plasticity of neurons in response to pain signaling, focusing on capsaicin and voltage dependent sodium channels.

Mark Burns, Ph.D., Professor & Vice-Chair, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Traumatic brain injury and dementia, focusing on amyloid beta pathways after brain trauma and the development of new therapeutic strategies. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Hong-Yuan Chu, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, GUMC
Cellular circuitry dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease, focusing on motor cortical pathophysiology.

Katherine Conant, M.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
HAND and depression with a focus on matrix metalloproteinases and synaptic plasticity. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Isaac Cervantes-Sandoval, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, GU
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of learning and memory; forgetting memories using the fruit fly as an animal model. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Tom Coate, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biology, GU
Define the signaling mechanisms underlying neural development within sensory systems and how synaptic connections can be reestablished in cases of damage or disease. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Guinevere Eden, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, GUMC
The neural basis of reading and related cognitive skills after injury and developmental disorders (dyslexia). The research uses extensive imaging capabilities including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and functional MRI (fMRI). Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Rebekah Evans, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Neural dynamics and functional connectivity in brain structures that degenerate in Parkinson’s Disease. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Patrick Forcelli, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology, GUMC
Neural circuitry, behavioral neuroscience & pharmacology, and epilepsy. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Rhonda B. Friedman, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neurology, GUMC
Research on brain plasticity to enhance the recovery of language and reading in patients with acquired aphasia or alexia following stroke or traumatic brain injury.

Nady Golestaneh, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Neurology, Biochemistry, GUMC
How aging mechanisms affect the cells and induce diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using iPSCs. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Brent Harris, M.D, Ph.D., Director of Neuropathology, Departments of Neurology and Pathology, GUMC
Glial-neuronal interactions in neurodegenerative diseases and CNS neoplasia. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Haiyan He, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, GU
Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the intricate balance between plasticity and stability of neural circuits in both early embryonic development and adulthood, with a special focus on inhibitory neurons. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Jeffrey Huang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biology, GU
Oligodendrocyte-axon interactions in adult CNS and in regeneration especially in the context of multiple sclerosis. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Xiong Jiang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Functional imaging of neurological disorders (AD & HAND). Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Ken Kellar, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology, GUMC
Nicotine treatment for cognitive impairment in AD.

Kathy Maguire-Zeiss, Ph.D. Professor & Chair of Neuroscience GUMC
Role of the innate immune system in brain disorders (PD & HAND) with a focus on misfolded or abberant proteins and the effects of these molecules on glial cells and neuronal health. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Ludise Malkova, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology, GUMC
Neural plasticity and recovery of cognitive function and socioemotional behavior after brain damage in non-human primates. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Italo Mocchetti, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal cell death in AIDS dementia, and the neuroprotective properties of two families of neurotrophic factors, the neurotrophins and basic fibroblast growth factor. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Daniel Pak, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology, GUMC
Molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in neurodegenerative disease. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Josef P. Rauschecker, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Organization, neurophysiology and plasticity of the auditory cortex of humans and nonhuman primates.

G. William Rebeck, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Role of apolipoprotein E (apoE) in synaptic loss and neurodegeneration caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Maximilian Riesenhuber , Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Plasticity of neural representations underlying reading and visual object categorization in typically developing and autistic individuals through computational modeling.

Scott Turner, MD, Professor, Department of Neurology, GUMC
Biomarkers and clinical trials in AD and HIV-related dementias.

Michael T. Ullman, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
The processing of linguistic information in patients with neural injury and therapeutic measures to take advantage of compensation by the intact memory system. He studies diverse neurodegenerative and developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and amnesia, in addition to those with aphasia and Specific Language Impairment.

Jeffrey Urbach, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physics, GU
Focuses on using advanced materials fabrication and live cell imaging technologies to elucidate the role of mechanical and structural cues on axon outgrowth and guidance, with the goal of developing novel strategies to engineer nerve regeneration after injury.

Ashley VanMeter, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, GUMC
Focuses on the use of neuroimaging (fMRI, blood flow, DTI, MRS) to study normal and abnormal brain development in neurological disorders.

Stefano Vicini, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, GUMC
Studies excitatory and inhibitory amino acid synapses using electrophysiological, immunocytochemical, and pharmacological techniques to identify mechanisms of long-term plasticity and changes in synaptic strength in response to therapeutic drugs. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Tingting Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, GUMC Molecular mechanisms that underlie the homeostatic control of the nervous system. Member of the NIP Training Faculty.

Jian-young Wu, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neuroscience, GUMC
Studies cortical wave dynamics and neuronal activity and the changes in brain plasticity in response to brain injury.