Eric Nestler Eric J. Nestler, MD is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Basic Neuroscience at the Southwestern Medical School, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Dallas Texas. He is also the Lou and Ellen McGinley Dstinguished Chair in Psychiatric Research. The goal of Dr. Nestler's research is to better understand the ways in which the brain responds to repeated perturbations under normal and pathological conditions. A major focus of the research is drug addiction: to identify molecular changes that drugs of abuse produce in the brain to cause addiction, and to characterize the genetic and environmental factors that determine individual differences in the ability of the drugs to produce these changes. A related interest is to understand the contribution of the brain's reward regions to the regulation of normal mood as well as the abnormalities in mood and motivation seen in depression. Dr. Nestler has authored or edited 5 books, and has authored or co-authored 180 original research articles and 90 review articles and book chapters. He currently mentors seven post-doctoral fellows and six graduate students. He has trained 27 post-doctoral researchers, eight research track residents, and ten graduate students. Dr. Nestler is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Pfizer Scholars Award (1987), Sloan Research Fellowship (1987), McKnight Scholar Award (1989), Efron Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (1994), and Pasarow Foundation Award for Neuropsychiatric Research (1998). He has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression and of the National Alliance for Autism Research. Dr. Nestler is also a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council, the Council of the Society for Neuroscience, and the Council of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Read More Read Less