How to Navigate Career Transitions in Neuroscience

Georgia E. Hodes is an assistant professor of neuroscience at Virginia Tech. She previously was an assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Hodes’s main research interests lie in how sex differences in the immune system interact with brain plasticity to drive behavioral differences in susceptibility and resiliency to stress. She earned her BA in drama and dance from Bard College and her PhD in psychology from Rutgers University. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.

Gretchen Neigh is an associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Neigh’s main research interests lie in behavioral psychoneuroimmunology and behavioral neuroendocrinology. She earned her BA in biology from Washington and Jefferson College and her PhD in neuroscience from The Ohio State University. Neigh completed her postdoctoral training at Emory University School of Medicine. She has developed a three-tiered research program including work with rodents, non-human primates, and human samples to fully address questions regarding the biological mechanisms that mediate the bidirectional relationship between stress and inflammation with particular emphasis on behavioral implications of these interactions.

Malú Gámez Tansey is the senior director of graduate studies, professor of physiology, and member of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease at Emory University. She is also an executive committee member of the Emory Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis graduate program. Tansey’s main research interests are investigating mechanisms underlying the role of cytokine signaling and brain-immune system cross-talk in health and disease. She earned her BS and MS in biological sciences from Stanford University and her PhD in physiology from The University of Texas. After finishing her postdoctoral training at Washington University, she spent two years working in the biotech sector before returning to academia. Tansey has served as a role model to numerous undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate trainees, many from underrepresented minority groups and she is the new director of Emory’s Initiative for Maximizing Student Development.

Christian Mirescu is an associate principal scientist at Merck Research Labs. He was previously a senior research biologist at Merck Research Labs. Mirescu’s main research interests lie in therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative disorders—primarily Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He received his BS in biology from The College of New Jersey and his PhD in neuroscience from Princeton University. He completed his postdoctoral training at University of California Berkeley.

Julia Zehr is branch chief of the developmental mechanisms and trajectories of psychopathology branch in the division of translational research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She has been a program officer at NIMH since 2008, managing research on neurodevelopment, experiential and environmental factors contributing to psychopathology, and trajectories of risk and resilience in childhood and adolescence. Previously, she worked as a review scientist for the office of animal welfare at the University of Washington. Zehr received her PhD in psychobiology from Emory University and completed her postdoctoral training at Michigan State University.

Bethany Brookshire is a science education writer for Science News for Students and the Society for Science and the Public at the blog Eureka! Lab, and runs the blog ‘Scicurious’ at Science News. She is a former research scientist with a PhD in physiology and pharmacology from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a winner of the SfN Next Generation Award.