Husseini K. Manji

Biography

The Neuroscience Therapeutic Area is headed by Husseini Manji, M.D., F.R.C.P.C. Husseini was previously Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology & Experimental Therapeutics, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and director of the NIH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, the largest program of its kind in the world. He is also a visiting professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He received his B.S. (Biochemistry) and M.D. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Following residency training, he completed fellowship training at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and obtained extensive additional training in cellular and molecular biology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The major focus of Husseini’s research has been the investigation of disease- and treatment-induced changes in gene and protein networks that regulate synaptic and neural plasticity in neuropsychiatric disorders. His work has helped to conceptualize these illnesses as genetically influenced disorders of synaptic and neural plasticity, and has led to the investigation of novel therapeutics for refractory patients. He has also been actively involved in the development of biomarkers to help refine these multifactoral diseases into mechanism-based subcategories to develop targeted therapeutics. Husseini is the recipient of numerous research and clinical awards, including the NIMH Director’s Career Award for Significant Scientific Achievement, the A.E.  In addition to his neuroscience research and biomarker and therapeutics development endeavors, Husseini has also been actively involved in medical and neuroscience education undertakings, and has served as a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NMBE) Behavioral Science Test Committee, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholars Program Selection and Advisory Committee and numerous national curriculum committees. Husseini founded and co-directed the NIH Foundation for the Advanced Education in the Sciences Graduate Course in the Neurobiology of Neuropsychiatric Illness and received both the NIMH Mentor of the year and NIMH Supervisor of the year awards and the Henry and Page Laughlin Distinguished Teacher Award.

Research Interest

Neuroscieces.