About CNRM

Regina Armstrong, Ph.D.
Dr. Regina C. Armstrong was named Acting Director of the CNRM in July of 2008. She earned a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester in 1982 and was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship for her pre-doctoral work leading to a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987. Dr. Armstrong received an Intramural Research Training Award from NIH to carry out postdoctoral training at NINDS from 1987-1991. Dr. Armstrong joined the USUHS faculty in 1991. Her primary appointment is as Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics in the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine. Dr. Armstrong holds secondary appointments at USUHS as Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology. She served as Director of the Neurosciences Program from 2002-2008.
 
Contact:
Director, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine
Dept of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Rd
Bethesda, MD 20814
rarmstrong@usuhs.edu

CNRM Co-Director

Walter Koroshetz, M.D.
Dr. Koroshetz, was named Deputy Director of NINDS in January of 2007. He works with the NINDS Director in program planning and budgeting, and oversees Institute scientific and administrative functions. Before joining NINDS, Dr. Koroshetz served as vice chair of the neurology service and director of stroke and neurointensive care services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He was also a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and has led neurology resident training at MGH since 1990.
 
Contact:
Deputy Director, NINDS
Office of the Director
NIH/NINDS
Building 31
31 Center Dr MSC 2540
Bethesda, MD 20892-2540
koroshetzw@ninds.nih.gov

James Smirniotopoulos, M.D.
James G. Smirniotopoulos was appointed professor and chair of radiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in September 1995. He originally came to the university as an associate professor of radiology and nuclear medicine in 1992 and has since accepted subsequent posts as professor in the departments of neurology and biomedical informatics in 1996 and 2001 respectively. Before coming to USU, Dr. Smirniotopoulos was the chief of Neuroradiology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington D.C. Dr. Smirniotopoulos attended medical school and completed his residency and fellowship training at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Medical Center in Washington D.C. From the onset, his research interests have been focused primarily on radiologic-pathologic correlation and the tumor biology and radiology of primary CNS neoplasms. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 book chapters and 75 peer-reviewed articles, including two studies on the efficacy of electronic teaching in medicine. Dr. Smirniotopoulos is the editor of the American College of Radiology Learning File and the chief editor of the MedPix™ Radiology Database and Teaching File.
 
Contact:
Dept. Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

David Bluemke, MS.B., Ph.D., M.D.
Dr. David Bluemke is the Director of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the NIH Clinical Center and Professor of Radiology at Johns Hopkins. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago followed by radiology residency and fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has published more than 300 scientific articles on advanced imaging techniques, and has led multiple multi-institutional imaging trials. He is a fellow of the American College of Radiology, a past member of the board of trustees for the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), a member American Heart Association Council on Radiology and Intervention, and the ACR Committee on Standards for Body MRI, and the ACR Committee on Standards and Accreditation for Magnetic Resonance.
 
Contact:
Building 10 - Magnuson Clinical Center, 1C355
10 Center Dr
Bethesda, MD 20892

Brian Cox, Ph.D.
Brian Cox is a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at USU. After training in Britain and serving as a faculty member in the University of London, he moved to Stanford University to join the Addiction Research Foundation before coming to USU. He has worked for many years on the pharmacology of opiate drugs, drug tolerance and dependence mechanisms, and on the roles of endogenous neuropeptides in the central nervous system. Dr. Cox is President-Elect of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
 
Contact:
Department of Pharmacology
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
bcox@usuhs.mil

Raymond Dionne, M.S., D.D.S., Ph.D.
Raymond Dionne was trained as a dentist (D.D.S. Georgetown University).His clinical experiences with pain and patient apprehension, however, did encourage him to pursue a career studying pain and analgesic drugs. He received a M.S. in pharmacology from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been at NIH for 30 long years and now serves as the Scientific Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research. He has co-authored greater than 175 publications, edited 5 textbooks and monographs and served as editor of the journal Anesthesia Progress.
 
Contact:
Scientific Director
NINR NIH
10 Center Drive, Room 2-1339
Bethesda, MD 20892
dionner@mail.nih.gov

Joseph McCabe, M.S., M. Phil., Ph.D.
Dr. Joseph McCabe is Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs of the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, and a Professor in the Neuroscience and the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Programs at USU. He received his undergraduate training in psychology and biology at Rutgers College, an M.S. degree in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from the City University of New York. Dr. McCabe spent 11 years at The Rockefeller University before his move to USU. His laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms of cell response to stress and in the development of pharmacological therapies that may reduce the functional consequences of brain injury.
 
Contact:
Dept. of Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
JMcCabe@usuhs.mil

John Hallenbeck, M.D.
Dr. Hallenbeck received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After a medical internship and neurology residency at the University of Michigan, he entered the United States Navy. At the Naval Medical Research Institute his research focused on CNS decompression sickness and air embolism and later the study of inflammatory and immune mechanisms in acute brain ischemia. In 1983, he was appointed Chief of the Navy's neurology training program at the National Naval Medical Center and Professor, Vice-Chairman and Chairman for Research in the Department of Neurology, USUHS. In 1991 he came to the NINDS as Chief of the newly created Stroke Branch. He received the Mihara Cerebrovascular Disorder Research Prize. Dr. Hallenbeck's laboratory is studying the cellular regulation of ischemic tolerance and inflammatory and immune mechanisms in the initiation and progression of stroke.
 
Contact:
Clinical Investigations Section
Stroke Branch, NINDS
Building 49, MSC 4476
49 Convent Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892
HallenbJ@ninds.nih.gov

Regina Armstrong, Ph.D.
Dr. Regina C. Armstrong is the Acting Director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, which was initiated in July of 2008. She earned a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester and Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987. Dr. Armstrong conducted postdoctoral studies at NINDS before joining the USUHS faculty in 1991. Her primary appointment is as Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics in the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine. Dr. Armstrong holds secondary appointments at USUHS as Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology. She served as Director of the Neurosciences Program from 2002-2008. Her research has focused on characterizing endogenous neural progenitor cells in adults and optimizing the regenerative responses of these neural progenitors cells in pathological conditions.
 
Contact:
Director, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine
Dept of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Rd
Bethesda, MD 20814
rarmstrong@usuhs.edu

Heather Cameron, Ph.D.
Dr. Cameron received her B.S. from Yale University and her Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University, where she worked with Bruce McEwen and Elizabeth Gould examining neurogenesis in the adult rat dentate gyrus. During a postdoctoral fellowship with Ron McKay at NINDS, she determined the magnitude of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and investigated the effects of stress hormones on neurogenesis in the aging rat hippocampus. Dr. Cameron joined the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at NIMH as an Investigator in 2001. Her laboratory studies the regulation of adult neurogenesis and the role of the newly-born neurons in normal hippocampal function as well as in diseases involving the hippocampus.
 
Contact:
Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, NIMH
Porter Neuroscience Research Center
Building 35, Room 3C-915
35 Lincoln Drive, MSC 3718
Bethesda, MD 20892-3718
heathercameron@mail.nih.gov

Sharon Juliano, O.T.R., Ph.D.
Dr. Sharon L. Juliano is a Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics, Neuroscience, and Cell and Molecular Biology at USUHS in Bethesda, MD. She is currently the Acting Director of the Neuroscience Program at USU. Dr. Juliano received her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She also completed a Senior Fellowship (Poste Orange) in Creteil, France. Her scientific work centers on the development of the cerebral cortex and investigates the mechanisms of tangential and radial migration of neurons into their target sites. Dr. Juliano is active in the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), and organized workshops and courses in Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe. Dr. Juliano received the Flexnor Award for Outstanding Research, the Cajal Club Cortical Explorer Award, the Simpson Award (given by iiFAR), and the Distinguished Service Medal. She is the incoming Chair of Committee on Animals in Research of the Society for Neuroscience. She sits on several editorial boards, and participates in many advisory committees including those to the Institute of Medicine, the NIH, and IBRO.
 
Contact:
Dept of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
sjuliano@usuhs.mil

Jordan Grafman, Ph.D.
Dr. Grafman received his B.A. degree from Sonoma State University in California and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. Immediately following his graduation, Dr. Grafman became the Neuropsychology Chief on the Vietnam Head Injury Study, a multidisciplinary study conducted at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. In 1986, he joined the NINDS as a Senior Staff Fellow in the Clinical Neuropsychology Section. In 1989, Dr. Grafman became Chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section in the NINDS. He is an elected fellow of the American Psychological Association and has received both the Defense Meritorious Service Award and the National Institutes of Health Award of Merit. Dr. Grafman's Section is attempting to identify the nature of representational knowledge stored in the human prefrontal cortex, the cognitive properties of representational binding that form episodes in memory, and the types of cognitive neuroplasticity that occur during learning and recovery from brain damage.
 
Contact:
Cognitive Neuroscience Section
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Building 10, MSC 1440
Bethesda, MD 20892-1440
grafmanj@ninds.nih.gov

Paul Pasquina, Col, USA, M.D.
Paul F. Pasquina, M.D. is a Colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps. He is the Chief of the Integrated Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at WRAMC and the NNMC. He is also the Medical Director of the Amputee Program and the Co-Director of the TBI Program at WRAMC. He serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD), is an elected Fellow in the American Institute for Medical Biomedical Engineering (AIMBE), a Secretarial appointee on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Advisory Committee for Prosthetics and Special Disabilities Programs, and served as the PM&R Residency Program Director and Medical Advisor to the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, and serves as a consultant to the FDA's Orphan Drug Program. He has received multiple military awards, as well as awards for teaching and mentorship to include the U.S. Army's "A" Proficiency Designation for academic excellence and the Order of Military Medical Merit. Dr. Pasquina is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
 
Contact:
Integrated Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington DC 20307
paul.pasquina@us.army.mil

Leighton Chan, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
Dr. Chan received his B.A. degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH with a major in political science. He graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine in 1990. Chan then completed postgraduate training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Washington. During his training he also obtained a Master of Science degree in rehabilitation science. Subsequently, he completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Fellowship, earned a master of public health degree at the University of Washington School of Public Health and was a Congressional Fellow for the Honorable Jim McDermott (Washington). From 1994 to 2006, Dr. Chan was on the faculty of the University of Washington's Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and in electrodiagnostic medicine.
 
Contact:
Rehabilitation Medicine Department
Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health
Building 10,
10 Center Drive, MSC 1604
Bethesda, MD 20892-1604
chanle@cc.nih.gov