Faculty in the Institute for Translational Neuroscience

Syed Omar Ahmad

Occupational therapy
Doisy College of Health Sciences
syed.ahmad@health.slu.edu

Syed Omar Ahmad, Ph.D., is a currently practicing and licensed occupational therapist and neuroscientist (Bachelor of Science in OT, Washington University 1995, License #2016005750 Missouri; Doctor of Occupational Therapy Creighton 2000; Ph.D. Neuroanatomy with an emphasis on neuropharmacology, Warnborough 2002). He is a tenured full professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at Saint Louis University that has worked on pharmacotherapeutic and physiological interventions, and evaluates their effectiveness based upon neurophysiological brain changes a stereologer that has been practicing in the field of morphometry since 1998. He currently researches models linked to oxidative stress, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular accident, developmental disabilities, alcoholism, and psychological stress. He has authored and co-authored more than 80 peer reviewed scientific papers and abstracts and has received numerous private and federal grants. He has been employed in academia as an associate professor, associate dean for research and graduate studies, and is the principle investigator in the Virginia Gore Neuro-Occupation Laboratory, LLC.

Michael Ariel

Pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
michael.ariel@health.slu.edu

Michael Ariel, Ph.D., investigates how the brain normally processes sensory inputs. A microelectrode tip is positioned within an animal’s brain stem that is maintained in vitro while still connected to the eyes and temporal bones. The neuronal activity amplified at that tip is recorded in response to either visual stimulation of the eye, vibration of the ear drum or rotation of the head. One goal of this research is to understand how these sensory inputs control eye movements that lead to the perception of a stable visual world as we move our head or body through our environment. The experiments are performed on neural tissues from pond turtles because of the unique ability of those isolated brain tissues to remain responsive to natural sensory stimuli while lacking blood flow to provide oxygen. Another goal of Ariel’s research is to determine if these sensory signals can activate the brain stem even during a total lack of oxygen (anoxia). In the normal environment of these turtles in North America, they remain submerged each winter under the frozen surface of freshwater ponds. Ariel’s experiments hope to reveal which of the sensory systems still function during these winter months in the icy winter waters. Understanding the mechanism of brain survival during anoxia may be important for the treatment of stroke in which oxygenated blood flow is blocked in the human brain.

Alaina Baker-Nigh

Biology, program in neuroscience
College of Arts and Science
alaina.bakernigh@slu.edu

Alaina Baker-Nigh is a neuroscientist with a research background in neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her work in the area has included quantitation of Apolipoprotein E isoforms in human subjects by Mass Spectrometry (in the context of AD and normal aging), exploring the role of calbindin and calcium buffering in the selective vulnerability of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in AD, and studies of amyloid isoform production using a chicken embryo model. Baker-Nigh is a teaching faculty member in the biology department and undergraduate Program in Neuroscience. She does not maintain a laboratory research program at this time, but is available to advise students on how to find a lab to work in.

Marla Berg-Weger

Professor emeritus of Social Work; Social Work
College for Public Health and Social Justice
marla.bergweger@slu.edu

Berg-Weger's research interests include non-pharmacologic interventions for older adults, particularly those with cognitive impairment; loneliness and social isolation among older adults; family caregiving; geriatric workforce. Berg-Weger is co-project director of the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program with John Morley of Saint Louis University's School of Medicine Geriatrics Division. It is a three-year project to provide geriatric education to students and community practitioners.

Tony Buchanan

Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences
tony.buchanan@slu.edu

Tony W. Buchanan investigates how psychological stress affects memory, language, and decision making. His team uses neuroendocrine (cortisol) and autonomic nervous system (heart rate variability, skin conductance) methodology to examine how stress affects cognition.

Gucan "Gabriel" Dai

Assistant professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
gucan.dai@health.slu.edu

Gucan "Gabriel" Dai’s research interests include ion channels, neuronal and cardiac excitability, as well as lipid signaling. The Dai lab uses cutting-edge fluorescence techniques, including fluorescence lifetime imaging and FRET, combined with patch-clamp electrophysiology to understand cellular and structural mechanisms underlying major diseases like epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and irregular heartbeat.

Susan Farr

Internal medicine, geriatrics
Secondary appointment, pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
susan.farr@health.slu.edu

Susan Farr has a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience. Her laboratory studies age-related dementia with a heavy focus on Alzheimer’s disease and risk factors for Alzheimer’s such as traumatic brain injury and diabetes. The lab's work includes testing novel compounds developed to alter biochemical changes in the brain pathways involved in learning and memory that change with aging and disease such as beta amyloid, tau, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. The lab also tests the effects of novel treatments on learning and memory followed by examination of biochemical and genetic alterations.

Liberty Francois-Moutal

Pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
liberty.francoismoutal@health.slu.edu

Characterizing and targeting protein/protein and protein/RNA interactions relevant to synaptic RNA transport.

Jafar Kafaie

Neurology
jafar.kafaie@health.slu.edu

Kafaie is an associate professor in the Department of Neurology. He treats patients with neuromuscular diseases, including motor neuron disease, muscle diseases, neuromuscular junction disorders, and different forms of peripheral neuropathies. He has appointments with both SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children Hospital and takes care of patients both in pediatric and adult clinics. He does electrodiagnostic tests (nerve conduction study and electromyography) on both sites. He is the director of HNF- Designated CMT Center of Excellence in Saint Louis University. He is side director for multiple clinical trials including a large international study on CMT1A. Kafaie is also director of the adult neurology residency program and is extensively involved in the teaching of residents. Kafaie was born and raised in Tabriz, Iran. He attended Tehran Medical University and obtained his Ph.D. in molecular biology from McGill University before doing his residency, followed by a fellowship in neuromuscular medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO. His main research interests are neuromuscular junction disorders (Myasthenia Gravis), motor neuron disease, and neuropathies, including painful neuropathies.

Brenda Kirchhoff

Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences
brenda.kirchhoff@health.slu.edu

Kirchhoff’s research interests include memory formation, self-initiated learning strategies, the effects of aging on cognition and the brain, the effects of Type 1 diabetes on cognition and the brain, cognitive rehabilitation, and the application of cognitive neuroscience research to education.  These research areas are investigated using structural and functional neuroimaging techniques, neuropsychological tests, and cognitive assessments developed from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience research.

Jason Longhurst

Physical therapy and athletic training
Doisy College of Health Sciences
jason.longhurst@health.slu.edu

Longhurst is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training at Saint Louis University. He received his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Brigham Young University. He continued his education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he obtained his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and subsequently a Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences with a rehabilitation science emphasis. He is a board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Longhurst practiced clinically for 8 years as an outpatient neurologic physical therapist, during which time he developed a clinical rehabilitation research program in neurodegenerative disease. Longhurst’s research interests include the integration of motor and cognitive control in neurodegenerative disease. He is particularly interested in cognitive and motor changes related to early Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. He is currently conducting research integrating complex motor and cognitive control to identify early markers of Parkinson’s disease, develop secondary preventive (neuro-adaptive) strategies, and explore novel interventions to improved lived experience of those with neurodegenerative disease. Longhurst’s work has been published in high-ranking journals in the fields of clinical neurology, neuroscience, and rehabilitation, and he regularly presents his work at both national and international conferences.

Katherine Luking

Assistant professor 
Department of Psychology 
Katherine.luking@health.slu.edu 
https://sites.google.com/view/lukinglab/home

Katherine Luking’s work focuses on understanding relationships between neurodevelopment and the emergence of psychopathology in middle childhood and early adolescence. Using a variety of methods (EEG, fMRI, behavior, hormones) she asks how core affective and cognitive processes, including emotion reactivity/regulation, response to social feedback, and reward processing, change in early puberty and mechanistically contribute to the emergence of depression and borderline personality disorder. 

John Martin

Surgery
Center for Anatomical Science and Education
School of Medicine
john.martin@health.slu.edu

John Martin is a professor and director of the Center for Anatomical Science and Education (CASE), Department of Surgery at SLU School of Medicine. He received a M.S. in Anatomy and Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at SLU in 1996 and 2001, respectively. He has been a full time faculty member at SLU School of Medicine since 2001. In addition to teaching in the anatomical sciences, primarily in neuroscience and embryology courses, he has mentored many graduate students, covering a wide arrange of research topics including anatomical studies of the reptilian oculomotor and vestibular systems, development of orofacial clefts in mice, and anatomic and genetic analysis of various congenital anomalies in human cadavers. As the director of CASE, he also oversees the anatomy graduate program, the University gift body donation program, the operations of the surgical skills lab Practical Anatomy and Surgical Education (PASE) and the financial operations of SLU School of Medicine Continuing Medical Education (CME) office. He has received awards for his teaching efforts and serves on numerous university committees. He is a member of the American Association of Anatomists, the American Association of Clinical Anatomists and Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology Chairpersons and is an executive member of the Missouri State Anatomical Board and Saint Louis Anatomical Board.

Yuri Martins

Anesthesiology
yuri.chavesmartins@health.slu.edu

Yuri Martins has an interest in outcomes research in acute perioperative pain and chronic pain. He started his career by studying innate immunity in murine models of cerebral malaria but transitioned to study pain after his anesthesiology residency and pain fellowship. The goal of his research is to discover new treatments and procedures to better treat pain. More specifically, He wants to improve acute and chronic pain experience and outcomes for patients by supporting comprehensive multimodal and opioid-sparing approaches. 

Philippe Mercier

Neurosurgery
Surgery
philippe.mercier@health.slu.edu

Philippe Mercier is currently the interim director of the Division of Neurosurgery at Saint Louis University and a practicing neurosurgeon. He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto followed by a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the University of Saskatchewan with a thesis entitled “Regulation of Heat Shock Transcription Factor 1.” Following that, he completed M.D. at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2014, he completed his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Calgary achieving Board Certification with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. It was then he moved to the United States completing a one-year fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery with an emphasis on pediatric tumors and epilepsy at the University of Tennessee associated with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. His interests include pediatric and adult brain tumor biology and the brain’s immune response to tumors of the brain.

Erick Messias

Samuel W. Fordyce Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Secondary appointment, pharmacology and physiology
erick.messias@health.slu.edu

Erick Messias was born and raised in Brazil, where he completed medical school and practiced family medicine in rural areas before moving to Baltimore for residency training. He then completed a psychiatry residency at the University of Maryland, in 2001, and preventive medicine training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in 2003. While at Hopkins he also received a master’s in public health and a Ph.D. in Psychiatric Epidemiology. Since graduation he has held academic positions at his alma mater in Brazil, and later in Georgia and Arkansas where he was medical director of the Walker Family Clinic and responsible for the House Staff Mental Health Service at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock. Messias served as vice president and medical director for Beacon Health Options, overseeing the mental health care received by Arkansas Medicaid recipients. Messias has over 50 publications in scientific journals, has published several book chapters, and edited a volume on schizophrenia for psychiatrists and a textbook on Positive Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychotherapy, he’s the recipient of many research and teaching awards. Messias also served as the associate dean for Faculty Affair for the UAMS College of Medicine and program director for the Baptist-UAMS psychiatry residency program, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Messias is currently the chair of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Aubin Moutal

Pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
aubin.moutal@health.slu.edu

My lab focuses on studying rare autoimmune clinical conditions to discover novel proteins involved in the transition to chronic pain. To achieve this goal we use a variety of in vitro and in vivo approaches from biochemistry and CRISPR to electrophysiology and pain behavior. My goal is to better understand the synaptic dysregulations underlying the increased spinal neurotransmission in chronic pain conditions.

Juliana Navia Pelaez

Assistant professor
Department of pharmacology and physiology
juliana.navia@health.slu.edu
https://www.navialab.info/

Navia Lab's research seeks to understand how lipid metabolism affects pain states and chronic pain susceptibility. The lab investigates immuno-metabolic changes and transcriptional regulation underlying chronic pain development. We explore neuro-immune interactions, cellular reprogramming, and metabolic mechanisms across various cell types involved in nociceptive pathways in different animal models of chronic pain. The lab aims to uncover new mechanisms, pathways, and potential therapeutic targets for safe chronic pain treatments.

Andy Nguyen

Internal medicine, geriatrics
Secondary appointment, pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
andy.d.nguyen@health.slu.edu

Nguyen's lab studies progranulin – a protein linked to frontotemporal dementia (FTD) – and how its deficiency causes neurodegeneration. It is currently testing strategies (including antisense oligonucleotides) for increasing progranulin levels as potential therapies for progranulin-deficient FTD. It is also investigating progranulin’s structure and function using a variety of molecular and cellular approaches.

Judith Ogilvie

Biology
College of Arts and Sciences
judith.ogilvie@slu.edu
https://judithogilvie.wixsite.com/mysite

The Ogilvie lab takes a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the structure, development and degeneration of the vertebrate retina. Current research is focused in two major areas: primate retinal circuitry and photoreceptor development and degeneration.

Geoffrey Panjeton

Anesthesiology and critical care 
geoffrey.panjeton@health.slu.edu

Geoffrey Panjeton is a board-certified anesthesiologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He has clinical experience in general anesthesiology, regional anesthesiology, and management of acute and chronic pain symptoms. He completed his medical education, residency training in anesthesiology, and fellowship specialization in pain medicine at the University of Florida. His interests include neuromodulation, minimally invasive spine interventions, peripheral nerve stimulation and ultrasound guided pain procedures. He incorporates a multimodal approach to treatment of neck, back and joint pain, as well as complex conditions such as spinal stenosis, neuropathic pain and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). 

Fred Rottnek

Family and fommunity medicine
fred.rottnek@health.slu.edu

Fred Rottnek is a professor and the director of community medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and medical director of the physician assistant program. He is a graduate of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission Program at Aquinas Institute of Theology. His clinical practices have included correctional health care, homeless health care, community clinics, and addiction medicine. He teaches in the School of Medicine, the PA Program, the Interprofessional Education Program, and the Center for Health Law Studies. Board-Certified in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine, he is the medical director for the Assisted Recovery Centers of American (ARCA). He serves on the boards of the Saint Louis Regional Health Commission, Alive and Well Communities, and the ARCHway Institute. Rottnek is the program director of the Saint Louis University Addiction Medicine Fellowship.

Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D.

William Beaumont Professor and Chair
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Director, Institute for Translational Neuroscience
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Fellow, Saint Louis Academy of Science and National Academy of Inventors
daniela.salvemini@health.slu.edu

Daniela Salvemini Ph.D., is professor and chair in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and founding director of the Institute for Translational Neuroscience. Salvemini received her B.Sc. in pharmacology from Kings College, London, and her Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of London under the mentorship of the late Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Vane. She pursued postdoctoral studies at the William Harvey Research Institute in London and Monsanto in the department of discovery pharmacology in St Louis. Before joining Saint Louis University, Salvemini spent 15 years in the private sector where she led drug discovery and development efforts on novel analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Salvemini’s research interests are in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in neuropathic pain states and the discovery of non-opioid therapeutics. She serves on numerous committees including NIH Study Sections (NIDA; NCI; NINDS) and the NIH/NINDS External Consultant Board for the Preclinical Screening Platform for Pain and boards including the United States Association for the Study of Pain.

She is founder of BioIntervene Inc, that is developing A3 adenosine receptor agonists for neuropathic pain and neuroinflammatory diseases, founder of Vincion Inc that is developing novel therapies for pain and cancer and founder of the St Louis Translational Pain Research Forum. She has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles has been honored with several awards including the Novartis Award in Pharmacology, the Outstanding Scientist Award from the Saint Louis Academy of Science, the Pharmacia-ASPET Award in Experimental Therapeutics and the Mitchell B. Max Award for Neuropathic Pain from the American Academy of Neurology. Salvemini is a Fellow of the Saint Louis Academy of Science, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Fellow of Saint Louis University Research Institute and Fellow of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. She has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Health, the Department of Defence, foundations and the private sector.

Raymond Tait

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
raymond.tait@health.slu.edu

Raymond Tait, Ph.D., has been active in the pain field as a clinician and researcher for over 40 years. His research has focused on pain assessment and provider judgments, especially factors that influence judgments of pain in others. He has studied racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the treatment of pain (and in long-term outcomes), as well as patient, provider, and situational factors that influence clinical decisions and factors that occasionally diverge from patient and provider treatment expectations. His current interests involve the study of provider burden, the professional and personal challenges that a physician encounters in the treatment of people with chronic pain, especially as it influences clinical decision-making and the expectations that both providers and patients bring to treatment.

Travis Threats

Professor and chair
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
travis.threats@health.slu.edu

Travis T. Threats, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. He teaches courses that cover neurogenic communication disorders. His primary scholarly work has been with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY). He has been the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) representative liaison to the WHO since 1999 and was the primary contributor to the communication, hearing, and swallowing sections of the ICF. Threats was also the primary contributor concerning communication disorders for the 2011 World Health Organization publication World Report on Disability. Threats has also published and presented internationally on his three other scholarly interests: spirituality/religiosity in rehabilitation, evidence-based practice, and rehabilitation ethics. He has given over 25 talks at international conferences, including being an invited keynote presenter in Chile, Greece, Portugal, the Philippines, Slovenia, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. Threats is an ASHA Fellow and the ASHA 2012 recipient of the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement. He is also a distinguished scholar and fellow for the National Academies of Practice, which is a nonprofit organization that advises governmental bodies on policies regarding the U.S. healthcare system. In 2022, he was awarded Honors of the Association by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Honors is the highest award this organization gives and is described on its website as recognition for scholars “whose contributions have been of such excellence that they have enhanced or altered the course of the professions.”

Carissa van den Berk-Clark, Ph.D.

Family and community medicine
School of Medicine
carissa.vandenberkclark@health.slu.edu

Carissa van den Berk-Clark is a clinical and community social worker who focuses on clients and communities with high levels of trauma and substance abuse disorders. Van den Berk-Clark is particularly interested in how trauma affects decision making among individuals in regards to health behaviors, especially substance use and misuse. Along with her interests in building better programs and service delivery systems for trauma-exposed patients, she also works to improve access to care by building health care workforce capacity and collaborating with primary care providers throughout the St. Louis region in SLU's ARCHNet practice based research network.

Andrea Vaughan

Assistant clinical professor
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
andrea.vaughan@health.slu.edu
Missouri SPEAK OUT! Therapy & Research Center

Andrea Vaughan is a licensed speech-language pathologist in the St. Louis metropolitan area. She has extensive experience in medical speech-language pathology in outpatient, skilled nursing, and acute care facilities. She earned board certification in swallowing and swallowing disorders from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She is employed at Saint Louis University as assistant clinical professor in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences department. She teaches multiple academic medical speech-language pathology courses and clinically trains graduate students in the evaluation and treatment of acquired swallowing and communication disorders in medically complex patients. She has specific experience treating patients with Parkinson’s disease, dementia, stroke, head and neck cancer, and older adults. She recently received a grant from Parkinson Voice Project to research the impact of SPEAK OUT! treatment on swallowing function in patients with Parkinson's disease. 

Gina Yosten

Pharmacology and physiology
School of Medicine
gina.yosten@health.slu.edu

Gina L. C. Yosten, Ph.D., joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology in 2015, following her Ph.D. and post-doctoral training with Willis K. Samson, Ph.D., D.Sc., and a short fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Yosten's work focuses on the role of orphan G protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in the neurobiology of obesity- and diabetes-related complications. In collaboration with Samson, Yosten has deorphanized five orphan GPCRs, and is interested in determining the role of those receptors in normal physiology and, importantly, how those receptors can be targeted therapeutically for the treatment of human diseases.

Silviya Zustiak

Biomedical engineering
Secondary appointment, pharmacology and physiology
silviya.zustiak@slu.edu

Silviya Zustiak obtained a B.S./M.S. degree in bioelectrical engineering from the Technical University in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2002 and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2009. She spent three years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland conducting postdoctoral research in biophysics. In 2011 she received the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence for her work on transport in complex media. Zustiak joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at Saint Louis University (SLU) in January 2013. At SLU she was awarded the Outstanding Parks Graduate Faculty Award in 2015 and the SLU Scholarly Works Award for a Junior Faculty in 2017. She is a co-director for the Institute of Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation and on the Executive Leadership Committee for the Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Center for Neuroscience at SLU. Zustiak is a frequent reviewer for NIH and National Science Foundation (NSF) review panels, multiple scientific journals and is on the Editorial board for Frontiers in Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Pharmaceuticals journals. Zustiak’s research is highly multidisciplinary, merging the fields of engineering, materials science, biophysics, and biology. Her research is focused on hydrogel biomaterials and tissue engineering, with emphasis on developing novel biomaterials as drug screening platforms and delivery devices for biologics, elucidating matrix structure-property relationships as well as cell-matrix interactions. Her work has resulted in over 50 peer-reviewed publications, over 200 presentations at regional and national conferences and multiple patent applications.