David G. Amaral, Ph.D., (Program Co-Director) Beneto Foundation Chair, Professor and Director of Research, M.I.N.D. Institute; Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Center for Neuroscience, School of Medicine; Core Investigator, California National Primate Center.

Dr. Amaral is a neuroscientist who has had continuous NIH funding of his research program for 25 years. He has been the recipient of two MERIT awards from the NIMH. His expertise is in neuroanatomy and in systems neuroscience. He has contributed to the literature on the organization of memory systems in the brain and more recently has led a multidisciplinary effort to understand the structure and function of brain systems that subserve social behavior. Much of this work has been carried out using the nonhuman primate model. Dr. Amaral has trained more than twenty predoctoral and postdoctoral students in his laboratory and many hold faculty positions in US institutions such as Brown University, New York University, the University of Arizona and foreign institutions such as the University of Kuopio in Finland, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Neuroscience in Japan and the University of Salamanca in Spain. Dr. Amaral was previously the Director of an NIH-funded predoctoral and postdoctoral Neural Systems Training Program carried out in association with the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of California. Currently, Dr. Amaral is the Research Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute. As such he is responsible for coordinating both extramural and intramural research programs. He is also Co-Director of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health that is funded by NIEHS and the EPA to examine environmental contributions to the etiology of autism. In addition to his research in basic neuroscience and animal models of autism, Dr. Amaral and students are also carrying out structural magnetic resonance imaging studies and postmortem histological studies of the autistic brain with particular emphasis on regions, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, located in the medial temporal lobe.

Dr. Amaral holds positions in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the Center for Neuroscience, the California National Primate Research Center and the M.I.N.D. Institute. He has previously been the Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry. In the seven years that he has been at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Amaral has developed collaborative and interdisciplinary research with colleagues in many departments. He has also developed relationships with several campus units that will allow the trainees in this program to have access to all of the rich and varied biomedical research resources at the university. On a national and international level, Dr. Amaral is the Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience, the journal of the International Brain Research Organization and has been an active participant in several committees for the Society for Neuroscience.

For additional information, contact Dr. Amaral at dgamaral@ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0237.

Thomas F. Anders, M.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Anders is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. At UC Davis, he served for six years as Chair of the Department (1992-1998), followed by 4 years as Executive Associate Dean of the School of Medicine (1998-2002). Currently, he is a full time faculty member of the M.I.N.D. Institute. Previous to coming to UC Davis, he has headed Divisions of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Stanford University and Brown University. He has been the PI on a number of NIH grants, including a Career Development Award (K-01). During his many years of administration, Dr. Anders not only built research programs and mentored many research fellows (residents and post-doctoral psychologists), but he has maintained an active program of research himself, focused on the ontogeny of sleep-wake states and sleep disorders in infants and children. Dr. Anders is currently funded by the NIMH to investigate sleep disorders in children with autism compared to developmentally delayed children without autism and typically developing children and assesses the effects of sleep loss on their daytime behavior and learning. He has served as PI on two NIMH training grants in child psychiatry.

For additional information, contact Dr. Anders at tfanders@ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0230.

Robert F. Berman, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine; Director of Research, Neurotrauma Research Laboratory, UC Davis

Dr. Berman is a professor in the department of Neurological Surgery and a member of the Center for Neuroscience.  He is also affiliated with the M.I.N.D. Institute and is a member of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health.  On a national level Dr. Berman served as Chair of the National Research Council (NRC) Life Sciences Research Fellowship Panel from 1998-2004, and was also a member of the Policy and Global Affairs Committee of the National Academies.  These committees administer the prestigious pre and postdoctoral NRC research programs, and advise the National Academies on Research Training and Manpower issues in the United States.  He currently serves on the Research Resources Advisory Committee, and Chairs the Research Space Advisory Committee for the UC Davis School of Medicine. He is also Director of Research for the Neurotrauma Research Laboratories at UC Davis.  Dr. Berman has trained over 20 predoctoral and postdoctoral students over the past 25 years, many of which direct their own research programs at such institutions as UCLA, NIH and Harvard.  He currently supervises predoctoral students and two postdoctoral trainees.  He is currently a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Group and the Pharmacology/Toxicology Graduate Group at UC Davis, and served as the Master Advisor for the Neuroscience Graduate Group from 2000-2003.  Dr. Berman’s research is focused on cellular mechanisms of brain injury, and is currently examining the effects of neonatal toxin exposure (e.g., thimerosal, ethanol) on brain development and behavior.  His laboratory has recently developed a set of behavioral testing procedures to evaluate social behaviors in rodents in order to provide useful models for the study of neurodevelopment disorders such as autism.  NIH has funded Dr. Berman’s research and training activities for the past 20 years, and he is currently funded by the NIEHS, NIAAA and NINDS.  His research is multidisciplinary, using in vivo and in vitro models of brain injury, and behavioral, histological, electrophysiological and neurochemical methodologies.

For additional information, contact Dr. Berman at rfberman@ucdavis.edu or (530) 754-5102.

Simeon Boyadjiev Boyd, M.D., Children’s Miracle Network Endowed Chair, Associate Professor and Chief of the Section of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine

Simeon Boyadjiev Boyd, M.D., is a medical geneticist and pediatrician, who joined UC Davis and the M.I.N.D. Institute in June 2006, accepting a position in the Department of Pediatrics as Children’s Miracle Network Endowed Chair and Chief of the Section of Genetics. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Boyd was a member of the research faculty of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. His prior achievements include identification of the gene responsible for Oculo-Dento-Digtal dysplasia; establishing a multi-institutional project focused on the analysis of craniosynostosis and bladder exstrophy; and the delineation of several novel dysmorphic syndromes. His laboratory is currently involved in studies of non-Mendelian (multifactorial) birth defects, using approaches that can be applied to the genetic analysis of other complex traits, i.e. autism, developmental delays, and learning disabilities. His ultimate goal is to identify genes and environmental factors contributing to the risk of these disorders. Dr. Boyd is sharing his expertise in analysis of complex traits with other M.I.N.D. Institute researchers interested in these neurobehavioral phenotypes.   Dr. Boyd’s laboratory is also involved in identification and characterization of genetic syndromes due to defects of the intracellular secretory pathway, and has recently identified and characterized one such syndrome, Cranio-Lenticulo-Sutural dysplasia.  Using classical and reverse genetic approaches he plans to identify and characterize other human disorders caused by defects of this pathway.  In addition to his research activities, Dr. Boyd directs the clinical activities of the Section of Genetics that provides campus-wide clinical services. The clinical genetics service at the UC Davis Medical Center evaluates infants, children and adults who have or may be at risk for genetic conditions such as birth defects, chromosome abnormalities, mental retardation and developmental delays, muscular dystrophies, inherited skeletal conditions and metabolic disorders. Among the recent initiatives of the Section of Genetics is the initiation of Lysosomal Storage Disease Center that provides enzyme replacement infusion therapy for patients with storage disorders.

For additional information, contact Dr. Boyd at simeon.boyd@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0446.

Cameron S. Carter, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine; Director, UC Davis Imaging Research Center, UCDHS

Dr Carter’s research career has been primarily focused on understanding the neural basis of cognition, and the circuitry and mechanisms underlying impaired cognition in mental disorders.  He began his career at UC Davis as a resident and clinical research fellow, conducting descriptive and cognitive studies. In 1993 Dr Carter moved to the University of Pittsburgh to obtain advanced training in cognitive neuroscience and non-invasive brain imaging.  During this time he built a productive research program that has been influential at both the conceptual and technical level, grounded in strong basic cognitive neuroscience, sound psychometric principles, and the careful use of cutting edge imaging methods.  His basic studies have had substantial impact in cognitive neuroscience; for example, event related fMRI work suggesting that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex contributes to top down cognitive control while the anterior cingulate cortex contributes to performance monitoring through the detection of processing conflicts.  This work has, in turn, provided leverage in interpreting the functional significance of altered frontal lobe function in psychiatric disorders.  Dr. Carter recently assumed the position of Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Davis and Director of the Imaging Research Center at the University.  By focusing the expertise and resources of this state of the art MRI based Imaging Research Center on imaging and clinical neuroscience and emphasizing multimodal imaging approaches, his goal will be to further increase our understanding of the pathophysiology of impaired cognition in mental disorders and the training of a new generation of translational cognitive and affective neuroscientists.

For additional information, contact Dr. Carter at cameron.carter@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 734-7783.

Blythe A. Corbett, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Corbett is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Corbett has been working with and studying children with autism spectrum disorders since 1991. Currently, she is a full time faculty member and clinical neuropsychologist with the M.I.N.D. Institute. Prior to coming to UC Davis, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota Medical School in the Department of Pediatric Neurology. While at the University of Minnesota she was instrumental in establishing the multidisciplinary Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic. She also developed a unique behaviorally-based treatment program using video modeling techniques to improve the functioning of children with autism and she has expanded this program while at the M.I.N.D. Institute. Dr. Corbett’s research has primarily focused on the neuropsychological and biological functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr. Corbett’s program of research investigates the neural substrates and biological processes involved in the processing of social and emotional information and stress through neuropsychological testing, the evaluation of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) axis and functional MRI. Since coming to UC Davis, Dr. Corbett has consistently received research awards and grants from the Debber Family Foundation (2003), a M.I.N.D. Institute Investigator-Initiated Award (2004), and most recently, the Tupin Award (2005). In December 2004, Dr. Corbett was selected as one of 12 young American scientists to present her work at the Japanese-American Frontiers of Science Symposium sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences. Most recently, she received a National Institutes of Health Mentored Clinical Research Award (K08) to explore the role of the amygdala in autism through a program of studies using structural and functional MRI.  Dr. Corbett is committed to designing a program of translational research that will lead to enhanced assessment and treatment of the social-emotional capabilities of children with autism. She is a licensed clinical psychologist.

For additional information, contact Dr. Corbett at blythe.corbett@ucmdc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0232.

Jeffrey P. Gregg, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine

Dr. Gregg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UC Davis, and director of the Molecular Pathology Core, UC Davis Cancer Center and the MIND Institute. He has extensive experience with microarray technology.  During his post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA with Dr. Stanley Nelson, he was instrumental in the development and implementation of the first arrayer and scanner at UCLA as well as several technologies adapted to microarrays (Welford, Gregg, et al., 1998; Geschwind, Gregg, et al. 1999).  He has been one of the first individuals to bring microarray technology to UC Davis.  His research deals with using molecular approaches to determine phenotypic variation in disease. Dr. Gregg’s background is primarily in cancer research. He is the Director of the Gene Expression Shared Resource in the UC Davis Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) in which his program has preformed hundreds of microarray experiments. However, in 2000, the M.I.N.D. Institute recruited Dr. Gregg to be the Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute Pediatric Genomics Laboratory. Dr. Gregg is an acknowledged authority of the use of gene microarrays for neuroscience research. His recent book (Co-Edited with Dan Geschwind of UCLA) Microarrays for the Neurosciences: An Essential Guide (2002) has already become a standard text.

For additional information, contact Dr. Gregg at jpgregg@ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0362.

Randi J. Hagerman, M.D., Endowed Chair in Fragile X Research and Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine; Medical Director, M.I.N.D. Institute

Dr. Hagerman, a developmental behavioral pediatrician, holds Endowed Chair in Fragile X in Pediatrics and serves as the Medical Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute. She and her husband, Paul Hagerman, M.D., Ph.D., a molecular biologist, have established a productive molecular-clinical team of researchers focused on fragile X and autism, an important theme for an autism training grant. Approximately 30% of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) have autism and approximately 6% of children with autism have fragile X. Fragile X syndrome is therefore an important subgroup of autism and it is on the forefront of understanding molecular and clinical relationships so it is a model for study among the autism subtypes. In 2000, Dr. Hagerman initiated The Fragile X Treatment and Research Program at the M.I.N.D., which grew into an NIH-funded Fragile X Center of Excellence in collaboration with the Seattle MRDDRC in 2003. Dr. Hagerman has worked in the fragile X field since 1980. Her early work focused on describing the physical and behavioral features of the syndrome and, together with parents of affected children, founded the National Fragile X Foundation in Denver in 1984. Since discovery of the FMR1 gene, Dr. Hagerman has studied molecular-clinical correlations and described high functioning males with FXS who present with learning disabilities without mental retardation.  She has carried out extensive neuropsychological studies in males and females with FXS, documenting the executive function deficits in females with the full mutation who are not mentally retarded, and the relationship between schizotypal features and executive function deficits. She has studied behavioral and emotional problems in males and females with FXS, including selective mutism, ADHD, anxiety, psychosis, and autism. Autism has been a major theme in fragile X research and has lead to collaborations with Drs. Sally Rogers and Sally Ozonoff. Dr. Hagerman works with a team of multidisciplinary professionals with an emphasis on linking the molecular with the clinical in her research.

For additional information, contact Dr. Hagerman at randi.hagerman@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0247.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Hertz-Picciotto recently joined the faculty at UC Davis as professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health Sciences, after a decade in the School of Public Health at UNC, Chapel Hill.  Dr. Hertz-Picciotto is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment Study (funded by the NIEHS), and of two large cohort studies, one of air pollution and childhood morbidity in the Czech Republic and one of PCBs and neurodevelopment in Slovakia (NCI-funded).  She serves as Deputy Director of the newly established UC Davis Center for Children's Environmental Health, and is an expert in the use of epidemiologic data for quantitative risk assessments of environmental chemical exposures. Her past and ongoing research has addressed: effects of lead, arsenic, pesticides, PCBs, and air pollution on pregnancy, early childhood respiratory health, and neurodevelopment.  In addition she has developed methods to validate risks from complex chemical mixtures, to compare animal experiments with human studies, and to perform statistical analysis of studies where exposures change over time.  She is also an expert on theory and methods for epidemiologic research.  Dr. Hertz-Picciotto recently finished a two-year term as President of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, and has chaired numerous Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences Committees, including, in 2002, Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Agent Orange and other Herbicides.  She was Director of the Reproductive Epidemiology Program at UNC Chapel Hill, and founded their Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility.  She serves on the editorial board for the leading Epidemiology journals, on scientific advisory boards for the State of California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, among others, and has taught courses in Brazil, Uzbekhistan, North Carolina, Michigan, France, Chile, and Berkeley. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto has chaired the doctoral committee of 17 graduate students in epidemiology, three of whom won prizes for their work from professional organizations (Dora Il’yasova from the Society for Epidemiologic Research; Nancy Sonnenfeld from the Society for Pediatric & Perinatal Epidemiologic Research; Jeff Korte from the Society for Risk Analysis); six of them now hold faculty positions at academic institutions.  Dr. Hertz-Picciotto has also served on 34 other doctoral student committees and 13 master’s student committees.  Of her 100+ publications, 42 were first authored by her students.

For additional information, contact Dr. Hertz-Picciotto at ihp@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-3025.

David Hessl, Ph.D., Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Hessl is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  For the past 8 years, Dr. Hessl has focused his research on genetic, brain, environmental and neuroendocrine factors affecting cognition and behavior in children and adults with fragile X syndrome.  Recently, his work has expanded to focus on premutation carriers of fragile X who as children are at increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, and who as older adults are at risk for a neurodegenerative disease involving tremor, ataxia, and dementia.  He recently received a National Institute of Mental Health Career Development Award (K23) entitled “Physiology and Genetics of Social Anxiety in Fragile X” to examine the association between anxiety and autism symptoms in children with fragile X syndrome and the physiology underlying social anxiety problems such as gaze avoidance in these individuals.  He has developed a psychophysiology laboratory at the M.I.N.D. Institute currently investigating physiological correlates of emotion and social gaze in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as fragile X, autism, and Down syndrome.  Dr. Hessl earned his Ph.D. in child clinical psychology from the University of Washington where his work focused on emotional and brain development of infants of depressed mothers under the supervision of Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D.  He went on to a clinical internship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University and completed a MacArthur postdoctoral fellowship in psychophysiology under the supervision of W. Thomas Boyce, M.D. at the Institute of Human Development at U.C. Berkeley.  His training continued at the Behavioral Neurogenetics Research Center at Stanford where he began his work on gene-brain-behavior studies in fragile X syndrome with Allan Reiss, M.D.  Dr. Hessl is a licensed psychologist and his clinical interests involve cognitive, emotional, and behavioral evaluation of children, adolescents and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially those with fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, and Tourette’s syndrome.  He conducts collaborative studies with researchers from several disciplines, including neuroscience, molecular genetics, and neuropathology in an effort to understand links between genetics, brain function and behavior.  He has been active teaching graduate students and undergraduates in research settings for the past 14 years, and currently supervises several students, research assistants, and post-doctoral fellows in the laboratory and clinic.

For additional information, contact Dr. Hessl at david.hessl@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0249.

Janine M. LaSalle, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Rowe Program in Human Genetics, School of Medicine

Dr. LaSalle is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology with a cross appointment in the Rowe Program in Human Genetics.   Dr. LaSalle has won international awards for her graduate and postdoctoral research in the fields of Immunology and Human Genetics. The underlying theme of Dr. LaSalle’s basic science research is the understanding of nuclear organization in the epigenetic control of gene expression.  Since her appointment at UC Davis in 1997, Dr. LaSalle has had an outstanding record of obtaining extramural funding for her research, with a continual NIH funding since 1998 and several recent new grants, including a 5-year RO1, for a total of four currently active grants supporting her lab. She has served as a reviewer of grants for the NCI, NICHD, and VA MERIT and is an ad hoc reviewer of multiple biomedical journals.  Throughout her scientific career, Dr. LaSalle has asked complex, but important, questions involved in human disease processes.  From her postdoctoral work on the neurodevelopmental disorders Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes to her current research focus on the molecular pathogenesis of Rett syndrome, she has a solid track record of using innovative approaches to address complex questions about disease pathogenesis in the human.  She has independently developed several new approaches, including the use of T cell cloning for separating X-inactivation and heterogeneous methylation patterns and the use of laser scanning cytometry (LSC) for quantitating immunofluorescence on neuronal tissue and tissue microarrays.  In addition, her publication of 5 articles on Rett syndrome in the last three years have made her an internationally recognized expert in this field.

For additional information, contact Dr. LaSalle at jmlasalle@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-7598.

A. Kimberley McAllister, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, Division of Biological Sciences, and Department of Neurology, School of Medicine and Center for Neuroscience

Dr. McAllister is a neuroscientist who started her laboratory at the Center for Neuroscience in 2000. Her research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of synapse formation in the developing visual cortex.  The main approach in her lab is to study the formation of individual synapses between dissociated, cultured neurons in real time.  This is accomplished by simultaneously imaging the recruitment of pre- and postsynaptic proteins fused to GFP to synaptic sites and recording the development of synaptic transmission at single synapses as they form.  The specific signals that guide synapse formation and plasticity are studied by manipulating them locally at forming and/or mature synapses. For this basic research, Dr. McAllister has been awarded a grant from the National Eye Institute in addition to a number of fellowships from private foundations including a Scholar Award from the Pew Foundation and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.  In addition to the basic research in her lab, Dr. McAllister’s research also focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of mental retardation. For these projects, she has been awarded a Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Award from the March of Dimes, a Scholar Award from the John Merck Fund, and a Research Grant from the March of Dimes. Dr. McAllister is currently training 3 graduate students and 2 postdoctoral fellows. The postdocs are currently interviewing for tenure track faculty positions; one (Philip Washbourne) has accepted a position at the University of Oregon and the other (Shasta Sabo) is returning to several universities to discuss possible offers. Dr. McAllister has a strong commitment to graduate education as she has served as Chair of Admissions for 3 years, has been a member of the Executive Committee for 3 years, and has designed a website for the Neuroscience Graduate Group at UC Davis. Dr. McAllister holds positions in the Department of Neurology, the Division of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and the Center for Neuroscience. In the four years that she has been at the University of California, Davis, Dr. McAllister has developed collaborative and interdisciplinary research with colleagues in several departments. On a national and international level, Dr. McAllister serves as a reviewer for many journals, ad-hocs for several NIH study sections, and is a member of the Program Committee for the Society for Neuroscience.

For additional information, contact Dr. McAllister at kmcallister@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-8114.

Sally J. Ozonoff, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Ozonoff is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the M.I.N.D. Institute, at the University of California, Davis.  Dr. Ozonoff has been working with and studying individuals with autism spectrum disorders since 1985.  She has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and a dozen chapters on the diagnosis, causes of, and treatments for Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. An area of research specialty is the neuropsychology of autism, particularly executive dysfunction. She is the author of two recent books, A Parent’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism: How to Meet the Challenges and Help your Child Thrive (Guilford Press, 2002) and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Research Review for Practitioners (American Psychiatric Press, 2003). She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health to study autism spectrum disorders since 1989 and serves on a National Institutes of Health study section. Dr. Ozonoff serves on the editorial boards of 3 scientific journals devoted to autism and developmental psychopathology.  Before moving to UC Davis in 2002, Dr. Ozonoff was on the faculty of the University of Utah for 11 years. She has mentored a dozen graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and served as a mentor on a National Research Service Award (F31). She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist.

For additional information, contact Dr. Ozonoff at sally.ozonoff@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0259.

Isaac N. Pessah, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine; Director, Children’s Center for Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, UC-Davis

Dr. Pessah is Professor of Toxicology in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, and a member of the Center for Neuroscience and the M.I.N.D. Institute. He is currently Chair of the Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Director of the NIEHS Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention. In his seventeen years at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Pessah has developed collaborative and interdisciplinary research program with many colleagues in the Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Division of Biological Sciences. He is a senior member of the NIEHS Center of Excellence in Toxicology (Leader of the Neurotoxicology Research Core) and the Superfund Basic Research Program. Dr Pessah is on the Editorial board of The Journal of Neurotoxicology and Teratology. To date he has mentored 12 PhD students. Dr. Pessah’s research interests are in the area of molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating Ca2+ signaling in excitable cells. His research currently focuses on studying the structure, function, and pharmacology of ryanodine-sensitive calcium channels (RyRs) found in sarcoplasmic and endoplasmic reticulum of muscle cells and neurons. The Pessah lab is actively studying how dysfunction of RyR complexes contributes to genetic diseases, such as malignant hyperthermia and cardiac arrhythmogenesis, and how genetic alteration of RyRs and environmental factors interact to influence neurodevelopment by utilizing cellular, biochemical, and molecular investigations of Ca2+ signaling pathways.

For additional information, contact Dr. Pessah at inpessah@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-6696.

David M. Rocke, Ph.D., Professor, Division of Biostatistics, School of Medicine; Professor, Department of Applied Science, College of Engineering; Co-director, Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing, UC Davis

Dr. Rocke, a mathematician and biostatistician, is professor in the Departments of Applied Science, College of Engineering, and Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, at the University of California-Davis. He is also co-director of the UC Davis Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing.  Dr. Rocke’s research interests include statistical analysis of gene expression data, statistical analysis of high-throughput biological assay data, analysis of massive data sets, robust statistical methods, chemometrics, formal models in international relations, applications of statistics in medicine and epidemiology, biology, environmental science, and earth sciences; and quality and productivity improvement. He is a member and co-investigator of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health, and has productive collaborations with colleagues in multiple schools and colleges at UC Davis and nationwide.

For additional information, contact Dr. Rocke at dmrocke@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0510.

Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D., (Program Director) Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Rogers is a developmental psychologist known for both her studies concerning the nature of early developmental and neuropsychological processes in autism, and also for her work in treatment of autism.  She has directed both clinical and research programs for autism, and training programs for clinical and research students and postdoctoral fellows, for the past twenty years.  She is currently the principal investigator of a large program of autism research across two universities “Definition and Development of the Phenotype in Autism” –one of the NICHD/NICDC funded Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism, currently in its seventh year.  She is also principal investigator of a NIDCD funded treatment study comparing language interventions for nonverbal children with autism, and principal investigator of a collaborative study with an Israeli colleague, Nirit Bauminger, Ph.D., of Bar-Ilan University, concerning patterns of attachment formation, friendship interactions, and executive functions of a group of high functioning latency aged children with autism, and a comparison group of typically developing children. She is a co-principal investigator on two additional NIMH funded projects – a large study of infant siblings of children with autism, (P.I. Sally Ozonoff) and a development project involving use of distance learning technology to improve treatment of rural children with autism (P.I. Thomas Nesbitt).

Dr. Rogers has been involved in postdoctoral training for the past fifteen years, formerly at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where she was one of the training faculty of the NIH funded Developmental Psychobiology Research Training Program (PI Martin Reite). In Denver, she also mentored a number of predoctoral psychology graduate students from the University of Denver, with Dr. Bruce Pennington.  Previous research trainees are now on the faculties of universities in several nations, conducting autism related research.  She also trained a large number of clinical students, including both clinical psychology interns and clinical postdoctoral fellows, at the John F. Kennedy Center for Developmental Disabilities, where she headed the Clinical Psychology program, and the Autism Evaluation and Treatment Clinic, for many years, as Professor of Psychiatry and a licensed psychologist.

In her position as Professor of Psychiatry and Senior Scientist at the M.I.N.D. Institute, her current research has several foci.  She and her colleague, Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D., are exploring the very early social-communicative and sensory motor repertoire of infant siblings of children with autism, from the first month of birth, looking for early precursors of the autism phenotype. Dr. Rogers’ research is also focusing on two particularly deficient processes in early autism: imitation and nonverbal communication of emotions.  She continues work in treatment, currently conducting a randomly controlled trial of two different approaches to teaching spoken language to nonverbal children.

For additional information, contact Dr. Rogers at sally.rogers@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0264.

Philip A. Schwartzkroin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery and Center for Neuroscience, School of Medicine

Dr. Schwartzkroin is a neuroscientist whose research interests have revolved around cellular mechanisms of seizures and epilepsy.  He is an established leader in his research field (two NIH Javits Awards, American Epilepsy Society Research Award), and has also played a major role in the national/international epilepsy community (past president of the American Epilepsy Society, past chair of the International League Against Epilepsy’s Commission on Neurobiology).  He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters, and has edited several books on epilepsy topics.  Although a basic scientist, Dr. Schwartzkroin has throughout his career been associated with clinical departments, and has established important interactions with both basic science and clinical colleagues. Dr. Schwartzkroin is Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and an Affiliate of the Center for Neuroscience.  He is also a member of the Admissions Committee for the UC Davis Neuroscience Ph.D. program.  Dr. Schwartzkroin has a solid history in research training.  At the University of Washington (where Dr. Schwartzkroin spent over 20 years on the faculties of the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Physiology/Biophysics), he trained many students in his laboratory, both predoctoral and postdoctoral. He was associated with training grants in both basic science and clinical departments, and served on the program committee for the Ph.D. Program in Neurobiology and Behavior. He also served as interim Program Director for the Department of Neurological Surgery’s training grant (1982-85).

For additional information, contact Dr. Schwartzkroin at paschwartzkroin@ucdavis.edu or (530) 754-5029.

Frank R. Sharp, M.D., Professor, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine

Dr. Sharp joined the faculty at the M.I.N.D. Institute at UC Davis in June 2004. He was previously Professor and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Neurology, Pediatrics and the Neurosciences Program at the University of Cincinnati, a faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience at UCSD, and a Professor and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Neurology at UCSF. He currently is PI on four RO1 grants and a Co-PI on four other current NIH grants. He has been continuously funded for over 30 years. He has served as the mentor for over 60 students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty members over the years. Those trainees are on the faculty at UCSD, UCSF, University of Cincinnati, Harvard, Stanford, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, Washington University in St Louis, Lund University, University of Tokyo and many others. Several have become Chairmen and a number are leaders in their fields. He has received teaching awards from medical students, neurology residents, and the academic senates at UCSD, UCSF and the University of Cincinnati.  Scientifically he has made contributions in a number of areas. He was among the group that first described the use of 2-deoxyglucose to map active regions of the rodent brain, which led the way for subsequent PET and fMRI methods that now do the same thing in human brain.  He derived the idea and was the among the group that first described the use of the immediate early gene c-fos to map active neurons in the brain, a method that has been used in literally thousands of studies related to brain mapping. His group was the first to describe the neuroprotective properties of heat shock proteins in ischemic and other types of brain injury. His group was the first to describe neurogenesis in the mammalian brain following stroke, a finding that is revolutionizing studies in how the brain may repair itself following stroke. He was among the group that first described the brain injury that occurs with psychomimetics like phencyclidine (PCP) and the fact that this injury can be prevented by typical and atypical anti-psychotic medications. Finally, his group provided the first proof of principle that changes in gene expression in the blood using microarrays can be used to assess injury and disease in the brain. This has included rodent studies with stroke and hypoglycemia models; and it has included human studies of Tourette’s syndrome and several hereditary neurological diseases including elephant man’s disease. Dr. Sharp is currently on the editorial boards of four journals, he reviews manuscripts for over 30 journals a year, he has been a standing member of the AHA Brain grant review committee, and is a permanent member of the NINDS Neurological Sciences and Disorders-A review committee. His broad experience and molecular approaches will provide an excellent opportunity for providing students a very basic science oriented approach to clinical problems.

For additional information, contact Dr. Sharp at frank.sharp@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0368.

Tony Simon, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Simon is a pediatric cognitive neuroscientist who recently joined the M.I.N.D. Institute from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He now holds the position of Associate Professor in the University of California, Davis School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His research focuses on the neural basis of cognitive impairments seen in genetic disorders that produce mental retardation, developmental disability and psychopathology. Building on his theory of the foundations of numerical competence, Dr. Simon investigates how dysfunction in specific neurocognitive processing systems, such as attention and spatial cognition, can generate a range of cognitive and behavioral impairments. His goal is to develop remedial intervention programs that will minimize such disability. Dr. Simon's current projects, which are funded by the National Institutes of Health, center on studies of visuospatial, numerical cognition and psychopathology in children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge and VeloCardioFacial syndrome. He is also engaged in similar studies of children with Fragile X, Williams, and Turner syndromes. Besides cognitive processing analyses and psychometric testing, Dr. Simon uses cutting edge neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Voxel Based Morphometrics, and Diffusion Tensor Fiber Tracking in order to study the structure, function and connective patterns in the developing brain.

For additional information, contact Dr. Simon at tony.simon@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu or (916) 703-0407.

Alice F. Tarantal, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and California National Primate Research Center

Dr. Tarantal is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Tarantal's  NIH-funded research program primarily focuses on fetal diseases and corrective therapies, with a focus on stem cell and gene-based therapies. The activities in Dr. Tarantal's laboratory cover the following areas of translational research: gene therapy, stem cells/cell-based therapies, fetal models of human congenital and acquired diseases, maternal:fetal microchimerism, and imaging applications.  Dr. Tarantal is the P.I. and Director of the NHLBI-supported Center for Fetal Monkey Gene Transfer for Heart, Lung, and Blood Diseases (www.CFMGT.ucdavis.edu).   She has a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, fellows, and junior and senior scientists. Dr. Tarantal also has an Annual Gene Therapy Symposium for Heart, Lung, and Blood Diseases (www.GTS.ucdavis.edu), that provides an outstanding training opportunity for students and fellows interested in learning more about gene therapy and related applications.

For additional information, contact Dr. Tarantal at aftarantal@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0447.

Judy A. Van de Water, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Dr. Van de Water is an immunologist who has had continuous NIH funding of her research program for 13 years. Dr. Van de Water is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, at UC Davis. She is also an advisor for the Graduate Group in Immunology. She has been the co-recipient of a MERIT award from the NIAID for her work in the Pathogenesis of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis with Dr. M. Eric Gershwin. Her expertise is in immunopathology and the study of autoimmune diseases. She has contributed to the literature on the immunopathology of various autoimmune diseases, including primary biliary cirrhosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and progressive systemic sclerosis.  Dr. Van de Water has trained at least a dozen predoctoral and postdoctoral students in her laboratory, many of whom hold faculty positions in US institutions, such as Scripps Research Institute, and foreign institutions, such as the Kings College in London, England. She is currently the principal investigator for the Cellular and Molecular Core of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health that conducts detailed analysis of the immune system, as well as evaluations of the interaction between the immune system and neuronal cells. Other research studies include: a NIMH-funded project on maternal biomarkers of autism, a project to evaluate the molecular mechanisms of adverse reactions to foods in children with autism, and studies of the pathogenesis and etiology of primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune liver disease.

For additional information, contact Dr. Van de Water at javandewater@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-2154.