Dr. Alice Luo Clayton joined the Office of the BRAIN Director in 2023 as a Senior Science Advisor. In her role, Alice will focus on strategic planning and implementation of integrative activities across the BRAIN Initiative. Alice brings over 14 years of experience in the research funding ecosystem. Most recently, she was at the Coalition for Aligning Science working on behalf of the Sergey Brin Family Foundation to spearhead the initial strategic framework for a new research initiative. Prior to that role, she was a Senior Scientist at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative for 11 years. She managed grant portfolios and related activities within systems, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience. She also created and oversaw the Bridge to Independence program. Alice began her career in research funding as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellow at NIMH, focusing on programmatic activities in developmental translational research.
Dr. Luo Clayton was trained as a systems neuroscientist, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Aston-Jones and completing postdoctoral training at the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse under the mentorship of Dr. Roy Wise. Her research focused on delineating the form and function of novel afferent circuitry to the Ventral Tegmental Area and specifying the role of these circuits in circadian rhythms, motivation, and contextual learning. She is passionate about creative opportunities that bring diverse perspectives together to achieve innovative, yet pragmatic solutions for unmet needs.