Focus Areas – Neuroscience and Cognition

Paul Aisen (website) Vice Chair and Professor	Mechanisms underlying the increased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in women and in drug development for treating Alzheimer’s disease
Barbara Bregman Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience	Recovery of function and axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury
Rhonda Friedman Professor of Neurology	Sex differences in learning, memory and the rehabilitation of language disorders following head injury or stroke
Richard Gillis (website) Professor, Department of Pharmacology	Central nervous system’s control of gastrointestinal function by mapping the pathways in the brain that affect end organs Research that relates to sex differences in the field of drugs affecting respiratory activity
Bonnie Green Professor and Director of Research, Department of Psychiatry	Psychological and physical health consequences of individual traumas experienced by women, including breast cancer, traumatic bereavement and interpersonal violence Relationships between patients and providers, and how they may differ depending on the patient’s trauma history and attachment style
Dr. Heidi Hamilton Professor of Linguistics	Sex differences in language use
Kenneth Kellar (website) Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Pharmacology	Pharmacology and regulation of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and their involvement in nicotine addiction
Alexei Kondratyev Associate Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology	Changes in gene expression associated with exposure to both damaging severe seizure activity and to neuroprotective, noninjurious brief seizures Molecular mechanisms of differential sensitivity between males and females to excitotoxic injury and the rates of their functional recovery from various neurological insults
Dr. Virginia Steen Professor Division of Rheumatology	Epidemiology and natural history of Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma) as it relates to pregnancy and pulmonary hypertension
Dr. Deborah Tannen (website) University Professor of Linguistics	Sex differences in language use
Michael Ullman (website) Associate Professor of Neuroscience	Sex differences and the effects of sex hormones in the neurocognition of memory and language
Barry Wolfe (website) Professor, Department of Pharmacology	Regulation of neurotransmitter receptors and response in the body and how this relates to pathological states such as spinal cord injury and Alzheimer’s disease