BRAIN INSTITUTE - Key Persons
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- Assistant Professor of Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience
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- Associate Professor of Neuroscience
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- Professor of Neuroscience
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- Associate Professor of Biology and Program in Fundamental Neuroscience
As the Senior Associate Director of the Brain Institute, Amy works to oversee the strategic and administrative functions of the institute. Amy completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and received an MPH from George Washington University. She has experience both in academic and industry health research with over 15 years of clinical research experience at UVA including oversight of the NIH-funded, $21 million/$25 million, multi-center ESETT and SHINE clinical trials at UVA.
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- Assistant Professor of Neurology
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- Clinical Research Coordinator
Anna completed her undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University - Idaho in Psychology and has been certified as a Clinical Research Professional. She has experience both in coordinating research studies as well as administering neuropsychological testing batteries. Anna has managed research trials of all shapes and sizes in Neurology, Psychology, and Gastroenterology before joining the Brain Institute. Her current work focuses on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and care providers.
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- Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology
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- Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics
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- Chairman, Department of Chemistry
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- Division Chief and Professor of Pediatrics
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- Professor of Cell Biology
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- Associate Professor of Radiology and Medical Imaging
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- Finance Manager
- Finance Manager for the UVA
Brenda Loving is the Finance Manager for the UVA Brain Institute. Brenda manages the fiscal operations of the Brain Institute by coordinating and setting up new awards funded by the Institute, scheduling all labor for faculty and staff, ordering capital equipment, and reconciling accounts. Brenda has worked as a Financial Analyst for the Department of Neurology, a Grant Specialist in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and as an Accountant in the Dean's Office at the Darden School of Business.
Dr. George Bloom and Dr. Ken Ono discuss our understanding of Alzheimer's mechanisms and the future of research and care in episode 22 of the Hoos in STEM podcast.
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- Associate Professor of Psychology
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- Professor, Clinical Neurology and School of Nursing
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- Senior Associate Dean for Research, School of Education & Human Development / Professor of Human Services
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- Clinical Research Coordinator
Chris studied cognitive science and statistics at the University of Virginia. She joined the Brain Institute as a Clinical Research Coordinator following her graduation in 2024. Her work supports research initiatives and collaborations across Grounds, including the UVA Baby Brain Initiative (BaBI) and research involving care providers for people with memory challenges.
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- Professor of Biomedical Engineering / Professor of Radiology and Medical Imaging
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- Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
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- Professor of Pharmacology
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- Professor of Biology, Cell Biology, and Neuroscience
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- Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
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- Professor of Pharmacology
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- Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
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- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
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- Associate Professor of Medicine
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- Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics
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- Assistant Director, UVA BRAIN Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Assistant Director, Postdoctoral Affairs OGPA
Fatima earned her PhD in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine, followed by an Administrative Postdoctoral Fellowship at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in Postdoctoral Affairs. At UVA, Fatima assumes a dual role as the assistant director of the UVA BRAIN postdoctoral fellowship program and assistant director for postdoctoral affairs. Her goal is to serve as a dedicated resource and advocate for the UVA postdoctoral community. She works closely with the UVA Brain Institute to provide tailored career development opportunities and support services that cater to the unique postdoctoral needs of our postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at the Brain Institute
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- Professor and Chair of Neuroscience
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- Harold Carron Professor of Anesthesiology
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- Scholars Foundation Professor of Neurology
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- Associate Professor of Medicine
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- Chairman, Department of Neurology
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- Assistant Professor of Neurology
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- Associate Professor of Neurology
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- Associate Professor of Kinesiology
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- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
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- Co - Director, UVA Brain Institute / Professor of Neurology
Jaideep Kapur, MBBS, PhD, is the Eugene Meyer III Professor of Neuroscience & Neurology, and the Co-Director of the Brain Institute at the University of Virginia. Dr. Kapur is a clinician investigator whose laboratory studies the neurobiological mechanisms underlying status epilepticus and neuronal circuits active during seizures. He led ESETT, an NIH-supported, 60-site, randomized, blinded, comparative effectiveness study of three drugs for treating status epilepticus. Dr. Kapur served as the President of the American Epilepsy Society in 2010 and is the Chair of the Board of the International League Against Epilepsy-North America. He served on the editorial boards of the journals Neurology, Annals of Neurology, Experimental Neurology, Epilepsy Research, Epilepsy Currents, and multiple NIH review panels. He received the Epilepsy Research Recognition Award for Basic Science conferred by the American Epilepsy Society, the Ambassador For Epilepsy Award from the International League Against Epilepsy, and the Jacob Javits Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
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- Professor and Chair of Psychology
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- Vice Chairman of Clinical Research, Radiology and Medical Imaging / Professor of Radiology and Medical Imaging
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- Associate Professor of Radiology
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- Assistant Professor of Data Science
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- Professor of Biology / Director, Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience
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- Professor of Nursing / Associate Dean for Research, School of Nursing
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- Research Associate Professor of Neurosurgery / Director, Human Brain Function Lab
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- Associate Professor of Pediatrics
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- Vice Chair of Research and Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences / Director of Reproductive Psychiatry Research Program
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- Assistant Professor of Biology
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- Associate Professor of Neuroscience
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- Professor of Psychology and Data Science
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- Louise Nerancy Professor of Neurology / Medical Director, Nerancy Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit
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- Associate Professor of Neuroscience
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- Professor of Neurology and Public Health Sciences / Associate Vice President, Clinical & Translational Research Director, THRIV
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- Senior Research Program Officer
As a Senior Research Program Officer, Katie is focused on research development activities for the faculty and student researchers within the Brain Institute. Previously, she worked in proposal development at both UVA and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has a bachelors degree in mathematics from Pomona College and a PhD from UVA Engineering.
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- Professor of Neuroscience
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- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Research Coordinator for the UVA
Kimmy is a research coordinator for the UVA Brain Institute. She completed her BS in Molecular Genetics (2015) at The Ohio State University. She gained experience coordinating complex leukemia clinical trials at OSU James Cancer Hospital and UH Seidman Cancer before joining the University of Virginia in summer 2020. She has shifted her talents to coordinating clinical trials with the UVA Brain Institute, helping with start-up, consenting, enrollment, and coordinating clinical trials activities.
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- Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
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- Associate Professor of Neurology
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- Professor and Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Leah is a fourth-year undergraduate at UVA studying behavioral neuroscience and English. She is currently doing an internship in clinical research at the UVA Brain Institute with work focused on Alzheimer's and other related dementias. Apart from the Brain Institute, she has also been a research assistant for labs focusing on molecular biology and physiology, as well as neuroscience.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Pediatrics
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- Louise Nerancy Professor of Neurology / Medical Director, Nerancy Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit
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- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
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- Quantitative Foundation Bicentennial Professor of Education
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- Professor of Anesthesiology
Manoj Patel, PhD, Professor of Anesthesiology in the UVA School of Medicine, describes his interests and his experience developing sustainable scientific collaborations.
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- Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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- Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
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- Project Manager
- Project Manager for the UVA
Megan is a Project Manager for the UVA Brain Institute and enjoys performing a wide variety of tasks while working with teams of researchers, staff, and students across the University. Her responsibilities range from recruiting participants in ongoing clinical trials, to overseeing complex proposal submissions, to organizing events. Megan completed her undergraduate degree in Foreign Affairs & Biology at the University of Virginia. She has experience coordinating clinical research projects related to transplant surgery, gastroenterology & hepatology, and neurology.
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- Associate Professor of Nursing
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- Assistant Professor of Neurology
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- Novartis U.S. Foundation Professor of Education
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- Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
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- Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
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- Assistant Professor of Psychology
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- Professor of the Sciences & Professor of Biology
- Sciences & Professor of Biology
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- Harold Carron Professor of Anesthesiology
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- Scholars Foundation Professor of Neuroscience
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- Nancy and Neal Wade Professor of Engineering & Applied Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering / Co - Director of the UVA Focused Ultrasound Cancer Immunotherapy Center
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- Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Sara is a fourth-year undergraduate at UVA studying psychology and Spanish. She is currently working as a research intern with the UVA Brain Institute. Separate from her time with the Brain Institute, she works for UVA Recreation. She is passionate about neuroscience research and learning about brain development.
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- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
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- Co - Director
- Director
- Co - Director, UVA
Sarah Kucenas, PhD, is Co-Director of the Brain Institute and Director of the Program in Fundamental Neuroscience. Dr. Kucenas is a basic scientist fascinated by the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive glial development. Her research group investigates how glia engineer neural development via glial-glial and neural-glial interactions. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio), coupled with genetic and pharmacological perturbation, single cell manipulation, laser ablation, small molecule screening, single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNAseq), proteomics, and in vivo, time-lapse imaging, her group has discovered novel glial populations, revealed how glia communicate in several unique contexts, and created many new tools for our studies and the broader community. Dr. Kucenas serves on multiple NIH study sections and is a member of the Independent Review Committee for TargetALS. In her time at UVA, she has received the NIH NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship, the American Society for Neurochemistry Jordi Folch-Pi Award, and the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
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- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
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- Associate Professor of Biology
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- Professor and Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Professor of Biomedical Engineering
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- Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology
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- Translational Research Building / Strategic Investment Fund
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- Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
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- Research Associate Professor of Neurology
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- Professor in Epileptology and Neurology
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- Associate Professor of Radiology and Medical Imaging
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- Professor of Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Data Science
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- Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
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- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
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- Research Assistant Professor of Neurology
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- Assistant Professor of Neurology
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- Professor of Neurological Surgery and Neurology
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- Wade Hampton Frost Professor of Medicine / Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine
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- Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
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- Wade Hampton Frost Professor of Medicine / Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine
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- Assistant Professor of Radiology and Medical Imaging
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- Associate Professor of Biology
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- Assistant Professor of Philosophy