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Roberta Diaz Brinton February 1, 2007 Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Toxicology, Biology and Neurobiology
USC School of Pharmacy
Director of the USC STAR Science Education Program USC Stevens regularly features innovators making great strides to make societal impact.Meet Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton, Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Professor Brinton leads a successful scientific research program to discover neural mechanisms of memory and neuron survival (http://pharmweb.usc.edu/brinton-lab/). Importantly, her research team is translating their discoveries into therapeutics for prevention of and recovery from neurodegenerative diseases especially Alzheimer's. Translational projects in her laboratory include: 1) Therapeutics to promote neural stem cell proliferation in brain and peripheral nervous system for prevention of and recovery from neurodegenerative disease; 2) Brain selective hormone therapies for maintenance of neurological function and prevention of Alzheimer's disease in postmenopausal women who are the major victims of the disease. 3). Therapeutics to treat learning disabilities. Dr. Brinton's laboratory was named the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation Laboratory for Neuroscience Research in 1999. Her research is supported by the National Institute of Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Institute for the Study of Aging and the Kenneth T. and Eileen Norris Foundation. Professor Brinton has published over 100 scientific reports and serves on scientific review boards for the National Institutes of Health and the Institute for the Study of Aging. She serves on the scientific advisory board of the Institute for the Study of Aging (http://www.aging-institute.org/) and the Diabetes Insipidus Foundation. Brinton is also the co-founder of a biotechnology company and holds several patents for therapeutics.
Professor Brinton has also served for 19 years as Director of the USC Science, Technology and Research Program (STAR). The USC STAR Program, impacts over 2000 kindergarten to 12th grade inner city, economically disadvantaged and principally minority Los Angeles students through a comprehensive science and engineering education outreach program. She and her colleagues have developed hands-on problem based science, math and engineering learning experiences as the portal for scientific discovery to address health, environmental and social challenges that face California and the nation. The STAR Program is supported by the National Science Foundation, the University of Southern California Neighborhood Outreach Award, the Kenneth T. and Eileen Norris Foundation, the Toyota Foundation and the Confidence Foundation.
Professor Brinton was named Professor of the Year by the USC School of Pharmacy students and received the USC Associates Award for Teaching Excellence. She also received USC's first "Remarkable Woman" award. Professor Brinton was recently named by U S News & World Report as a "Best Mind" and was awarded Outstanding Woman of the 24th California State Senatorial District. Professor Brinton earned her Ph.D. in Psychobiology and Neuropharmacology from the University of Arizona as a National Institutes of Health Predoctoral fellow. She continued her postdoctoral research in Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow and joined the USC faculty in 1988.
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