Current Protocols Editorial Board: Neuroscience

Dr. Gerfen is currently the Chief of the Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience in the Intramural Research Program of NIMH. He received a B.A. from Amherst College and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His doctoral research was on neural substrates of reward involving the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. During a post-doctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Max Cowan at the Salk Institute, he developed the PHA-L axonal tracing technique with Paul Sawchenko. In 1983, Dr. Gerfen moved to the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland and became a tenured Senior Investigator in 1988. His research on the neuroanatomy of the forebrain has established some of the functional principles of the organization of the basal ganglia. Included in this research was the original determination that D1 and D2 dopamine receptors are segregated to different neuronal pathways, which forms the basis of one of the most prominent models of Parkinson's Disease. The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) listed Dr. Gerfen as one of the 100 most cited authors in the field of Neuroscience.

Andrew Holmes received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Pharmacology from the University of Leeds in 1999 and received post-doctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health from 1999-2003. He is currently Chief of the Laboratory Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, studying the neural and genetic basis of emotion and addiction.

David Sibley is currently Senior Investigator and Chief of the Molecular Neuropharmacology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sibley received his Bachelor's degree in Biology from San Diego State University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Physiology from the University of California, San Diego in 1982. Dr. Sibley subsequently received postdoctoral training at Duke University where he characterized novel pathways for adrenergic receptor regulation. He moved to the NIH in 1987 where he served as Chief of the Molecular Pharmacology Unit, NINDS before assuming his present position in 1992. His laboratory is well known for the discovery of novel dopamine and serotonin receptors and for studies on dopaminergic receptor signaling, regulation and the generation and characterization of receptor-deficient mice. He has a long-standing interest in innovative pharmacologic approaches for the treatment of psychosis. Dr. Sibley is an editor of several books and an author on nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters, as well as the lead inventor on several patents. He is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Sibley also serves as an executive editor, or reviewing editor, for over one dozen scientific journals.

Phil Skolnick is Director, Division of Pharmacotherapies & Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH. Prior to rejoining the NIH, Dr. Skolnick was President and Chief Scientific Officer at DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc (2001-2009). Dr. Skolnick has also served as Research Professor of Psychiatry at both New York University-Langone Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Adjunct Professor of Anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University, and Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Skolnick was a Lilly Research Fellow (Neuroscience) at Lilly Research Laboratories (1997-2000). He came to the NIH as a Staff Fellow (1972) under Dr. John W. Daly, and was appointed a Senior Investigator in 1977. Dr. Skolnick served as Chief, Laboratory of Neuroscience, at the NIH from 1986-1997. A graduate of the Stuyvesant High School, Dr. Skolnick received a B.S. (summa cum laude) from Long Island University (1968) and a Ph.D. from The George Washington University (1972).

Among his honors and awards, Dr. Skolnick has received the Experimental Therapeutics Prize from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, an Anna Monika Prize for his work on novel antidepressive therapies, and the AE Bennett Prize from the Society for Biological Psychiatry. He has twice been awarded the Doctor of Science, honoris causa. Dr. Skolnick has co authored more than 500 articles and holds several patents. The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) acknowledged his contributions to neuropsychopharmacology by naming him to the elite group of "Highly Cited" authors, based on citations between 1981-1999.

Dr. Wray received her B.A. degree from Middlebury College and her M.S, and Ph.D. degrees from University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry where she worked on development of neuroendocrine systems associated with puberty. She continued her work on neuroendocrine systems as a postdoctoral fellow in NICHD. In 1992 she became a faculty member of NINDS as a Unit Chief in the Laboratory of Neurochemistry and in 1999 became Chief of the newly created Cellular and Developmental Neurobiology Section. She is a council member of the International Society of Neuroendocrinology and a founding member of the American Neuroendocrine Society. Dr. Wray's laboratory is studying developmental cues underlying neuronal migration, and neurogenesis and regulation of neuroendocrine cells essential for reproduction. The lab's research interests now span across two interconnected fields, developmental neurobiology and systems neurobiology.