Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov
Get the latest research information from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus
NIH staff guidance on coronavirus (NIH Only)
Program Directors oversee the research activities in one or more parts of the Institute's research funding program, managing a portfolio of grants and contracts and coordinating program efforts in these specifically defined areas of neuroscience research. Please reach out to individual Program Directors for more information about specific opportunities.
Use the quick search below to find your program director based on your research keywords.
Program Director/Program Manager | Cluster | Portfolios |
---|---|---|
Severn (Ben) Churn, PhD | Channels, Synapses, and Circuits | Synaptic plasticity (including learning and memory, homeostatic plasticity, and aging); circuit mechanisms and seizure initiation in acquired epilepsies; comorbidities and co-occurring conditions (including cognitive impairments, intellectual disabilities, memory, aging, and Alzheimer's Disease & Related Dementias) |
Miriam Leenders, PhD | Channels, Synapses, and Circuits | Acquired epilepsies, epilepsies with immunological, infectious or unknown etiology; Lafora disease; psychiatric and hormonal co-occurring conditions in epilepsy; neuroinflammation, neurogenesis, and glia mechanisms of epileptogenesis; synapse development, synapse function, tripartite synapse |
Shai Silberberg, PhD | Channels, Synapses, and Circuits | Molecular structure, function, and regulation of ion channels, transporters, and pumps; channelopathy |
Edmund (Ned) Talley , PhD | Channels, Synapses, and Circuits | Basic research in synaptic transmission, optical technologies for recording and manipulating circuits, technologies for tracing and accessing circuits |
Vicky Whittemore, PhD | Channels, Synapses, and Circuits | Basic, translational, and clinical studies on the epilepsies (including sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)), the genetic epilepsies, and seizure localization studies; myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fatigue |
Francesca Bosetti, PhD, PharmD | Neural Environment | Ischemic stroke, neuroprotection, stroke repair and recovery, and blood-brain barrier |
Jane Fountain, PhD | Neural Environment | Primary brain tumor |
Jim Koenig, PhD | Neural Environment | Hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm, pediatric/neurodevelopmental hypoxia-ischemic insults, cerebrovascular biology and pathophysiological mechanisms of stroke and recovery, stroke neuroimaging, and global cerebral ischemia |
Ursula Utz, PhD | Neural Environment | Multiple sclerosis and related disorders (including animal models thereof), studies on CNS demyelination and repair |
May Wong, PhD | Neural Environment | HIV-associated neurological disorders, infectious diseases of the nervous system, neurovirology, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies |
Tom Cheever, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Frontotemporal Dementia and associated subtypes; structural, molecular, biochemical, and cellular aspects of Parkinson's disease (PD) as it relates to protein aggregation, mitochondria, and protein processing; genetic, epidemiology and clinical studies in PD |
Roderick Corriveau, PhD | Neurodegeneration | AD/ADRD Program. Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), e.g. vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), vascular dementia (VaD), cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and CADASIL. |
Amelie Gubitz, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia, Friedreich's Ataxia |
Linda McGavern, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Alzheimer's disease (AD) |
Daniel Miller, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Huntington's Disease; Spinocerebellar Ataxias (SCAs); invertebrate neuromuscular junction synaptic development, structure, and function; NIH Neurobiobank (human brain tissue banking) |
Beth-Anne Sieber, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Parkinson's disease (neuronal loss/repair, circuit dysfunction, neuroinflammation, microbiome, and Udall Centers of Excellence); synucleinopathies (multiple system atrophy (MSA) and preclinical studies of Lewy Body Dementia (LBD)); other movement disorders (dystonia, preclinical and genetic studies of essential tremor) |
Christine Swanson-Fischer, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program; NINDS Biorepository (BioSEND); NINDS Human Cell and Data Repository (NHCDR); Accelerating Medicines Partnership for Parkinson's Disease |
Keith W. Whitaker, PhD | Neurodegeneration | AD/ADRD Program; Diverse VCID: White Matter Lesion Etiology of Dementia in Diverse Populations; Determinants of Incident Stroke Cognitive Outcomes and Vascular Effects on Recovery (DISCOVERY) |
Laura Mamounas, PhD | Neurogenetics | Molecular determinants of normal neurodevelopment (including neurotrophic factor signaling mechanisms, transcriptional regulation, and mechanisms of RNA transport and local translation in neurons); Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders (including Tuberous sclerosis complex, Rett Syndrome, CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, Fragile X Syndrome, Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, Angelman and 15q11-q13 duplication Syndromes, and other rare, genetic forms of ASD) |
Jill Morris, PhD | Neurogenetics | General glia biology; oligodendrocyte and Schwann cell development, function and myelination; neural crest and neural tube development; technology development for gene-targeted therapies; various uncommon and rare diseases (including neural tube defects (spina bifida), hydrocephalus and normal pressure hydrocephalus, Tourette syndrome and tics, Neurofibromatosis 1 and 2, Schwannomatosis, Noonan Syndrome, inborn errors of metabolism, lysosomal storage disorders, leukodystrophies, brain iron accumulation disorders (NBIA), copper metabolism disorders, congenital disorders of glycosylation, mitochondrial disorders, and peroxisomal disorders) |
Glen Nuckolls, PhD | Neurogenetics | Muscular dystrophies; spinal muscular atrophy and inherited peripheral neuropathies (e.g. Charcot-Marie-Tooth, giant axonal neuropathy, familial dysautonomia) and inflammatory or autoimmune peripheral neuropathies (e.g. myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy); diabetic- and chemotherapy induced-peripheral neuropathies |
Robert Riddle, PhD | Neurogenetics | Early pattern formation; neural polarity and migration; axonal guidance; cortical, cerebellar, midbrain, and hindbrain development; chromatin structure and function in the nervous system; epigenetic mechanisms; development and use of animal model systems; Joubert and Dandy-Walker Syndrome; Chiari Malformations; Down Syndrome and diseases related to intellectual developmental disorders; Fragile X Tremor Ataxia (FXTAS) |
Ran Zhang, PhD | Neurogenetics | Ataxia Telangiectasia and basic studies on ATM mutation related DNA damage and DNA repair; NIH Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) policy; NIH Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP); NINDS Human Genetics DNA and Cell Line Repository |
Linda Bambrick, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injury and axonal regeneration |
Patrick Bellgowan, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Basic, translational, and clinical studies of traumatic brain injury (TBI); cognitive/emotional domains affected by TBI |
Sahana N. Kukke, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Neural interface technologies that record, modulate or stimulate neural activity; novel biomaterials for repair and neural interface devices; bioengineering applied to the nervous system (including development of hardware, software and computational techniques) |
Tim LaVaute, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Neurogenesis and progenitor cell biology in nervous system development and function, application/treatment; tissue engineering; human embryonic stem cells; human fetal tissue |
Debra Babcock, MD, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Basic and translational aspects of behavior and cognitive neuroscience; CNS plasticity; Lewy Body Dementia; neuroimaging and development |
Daofen Chen, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Motor control and learning; device-based or behavioral interventions for stroke and cerebral palsy; rehabilitation |
Karen David, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Integrative function of brain circuits, sensorimotor integration, multi-sensory processing; BRAIN Integrated Approaches/Circuits Research Project Grants (R34, R01) and Team exploratory research (U01); BRAIN Initiated Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00) |
Jim Gnadt, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Sensory systems, thalamo-cortical functions, systems neurobiology, computational neuroscience; Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS); BRAIN Initiative (integrative systems neuroscience; intracortical human neuroscience (U01); team-research brain circuits programs (U19)) |
Janet He, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | CNS and homeostatic regulation; sleep; circadian rhythms; sleep in neurological disorders; neuroendocrine systems |
DP Mohapatra, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Peripheral and spinal mechanisms of somatosensation; neurobiology of itch. For investigators whose last name starts with L-Z: basic, translational, and clinical research in pain; microglia and neuro-immune biology; NIH HEAL Initiative |
Michael Oshinsky, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Migraine and other headache disorders. For investigators whose last name starts with A-K: basic, translational, and clinical research in pain; microglia and neuro-immune biology; NIH HEAL Initiative |
William Daley, PhD | Neural Environment | Health Program Specialist |
Ye Yan, PhD | Neural Environment | Health Program Specialist |
Maripierre Surpris, PhD | Neurogenetics | Health Program Specialist |
Amber McCartney, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Health Program Specialist |
Rebecca Price, PhD | Neurodegeneration | Health Program Specialist |
Baindu Bayon, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Health Program Specialist |
Rebecca Berman, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Health Program Specialist |
Kalynda Stokes, PhD | Repair & Plasticity | Health Program Specialist |
Hsiao Yu (Christina) Fang, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Health Program Specialist |
Marie Gill, MS | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Health Program Specialist |
Alex Tuttle, PhD | Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience | Health Program Specialist |