Dr. Etty (Tika) Benveniste was the Founding Chair of the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology (2012-2017). Benveniste served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology (2000-2011). Benveniste also holds the Alma B. Maxwell-University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (UAHSF), Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research. In January 2015, Benveniste was appointed interim Senior Associate Dean for Research Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of M...
The overall goal of my research program is to investigate environmental modulation of circadian clock function in mammalian systems and the contribution of clock disruption to pathological disease. One of the most exciting discoveries that has emerged in recent years is that the circadian molecular clock regulates excitability in neurons that are spontaneously active in the absence of synaptic input. Although the intrinsic 24-h rhythm in membrane properties of neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucl...
My lab's overall research goal is to understand and investigate the cellular and immunological mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of synucleinopathy disorders. Specifically, my lab research focuses on how the protein alpha-synuclein contributes to microglial activation, peripheral immune cell infiltration, and subsequent activation of the immune response in Parkinson disease (PD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) models. In the lab we work with multiple immune cell types, incl...
Dr. Kana has several years of experience in research in the field of autism spectrum disorders. After earning PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, India, he completed his postdoctoral training at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2001 he was awarded the William Fulbright pre-doctoral research fellow to do research at University of California Los Angeles. He joined UAB in 2007.
Dr. Kana is the director of the Cognition, Brain and Autism Laboratory at UAB, and the co-directo...
Dr. Knight’s laboratory is focused on better understanding the neural substrates of human learning, memory, and emotion using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that include functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Behavioral and MRI studies from the lab investigate questions that are important for understanding healthy, as well as dysfunctional, emotion processes.
Recent work from the Knight lab has investigated the neural circuitry that ...
Dr. Korf is Wayne H. and Sara Crews Finley Chair in Medical Genetics, Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics, Director of the Heflin Center for Genomic Sciences at UAB, and Co-Director of the UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine. He is a medical geneticist, pediatrician, and child neurologist, certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics (clinical genetics, clinical cytogenetics, clinical molecular genetics), American Board of Pediatrics, and American Board of Psychiatr...
Dr. Meador-Woodruff received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Richmond, and his MD from the Medical College of Virginia. He then moved to Ann Arbor, and completed a combined residency in psychiatry and a research fellowship at the University of Michigan. After completing his research training, he joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, where he held administrative positions including Associate Chair for ...
Dr. Nicholas is originally from Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude in 1982 with a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Scranton. He then received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Galveston in 1987, and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1990. After medical school, Dr. Nicholas spent two years completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Neuroscience with Dr. Tomas Hökfelt at the Karolinska Institute in S...
Dr. Payami is the founder and Lead Investigator of the NeuroGenetics Research Consortium, a collaborative effort since 1992, formalized in 2004 as a Michael J Fox Foundation Global Genetics Consortium. Dr. Payami received her PhD in Genetics from UC Berkeley. She was a faculty member at the Oregon Health Sciences for 15 years, during which she developed independently-funded research program in Alzheimer and Parkinson genetics, won teaching awards for graduate and medical courses, and served as...
Dr. Roberson is a neurologist and neuroscientist whose research is focused on age-related neurodegenerative disorders. He received his A.B. with highest honors from Princeton University, then earned his Ph.D in neuroscience and M.D. with high honors at Baylor College of Medicine where he studied molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. He completed a residency in neurology at the University of California San Francisco, where he also served as Chief Resident in Neurology. After residency, he ...
Dr. Standaert was named the John N. Whitaker Professor & Chair of Neurology in 2012. Prior to that, he was appointed the John T. and Juanelle D. Strain Endowed Chair by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama system, which he held for five years. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in medicine and pharmacology in 1988. He completed a one-year internship in medicine at Jewish Hospital of St. Louis in 1989 and a three-year neurology residency i...
Biographical Sketch
Laura Volpicelli-Daley earned her BA in Mathematics and English Literature at Franklin and Marshall College. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Emory University, where she performed her thesis project in the laboratory of Allan Levey, MD,PhD, Chairman of Neurology and director of the Center of Neurodegenerative Disease. Laura performed her postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology at Yale University, in the laboratory of Pietro De Camilli, MD, Howard Hughes Investigat...
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is more effective than medications and other conventional therapies for motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and essential tremor. Emerging DBS technologies such as directional and closed loop stimulation have substantial potential to improve a variety of patient outcomes. However these devices are increasingly adaptable and complex, and we lack robust tools to fully realize their therapeutic potential. Dr. Walker's lab investigates how deep brain stimula...
Ray L. Watts, M.D., UAB's seventh president, has demonstrated visionary leadership in education, research and patient care throughout his career.
A Birmingham native and graduate of West End High School, Dr. Watts earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering at UAB in 1976. The collaborations he had with biomedical engineering students as an undergraduate sparked an interest in medicine and, four years later, he graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as valed...
