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 Meet the Directors
Carla J. Shatz, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biological Sciences and Neurobiology at Stanford University, and the Director of the Bio-X Program. Dr. Shatz has made key contributions to understanding the mechanisms that guide the formation of precise connections in the brain of higher mammals. Her work has provided an important link between the mechanisms of plasticity during development and those used later in learning and memory. A former president of the Society for Neuroscience, she is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Philosophical Society.
Corey Goodman, Ph.D., is President of the Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center at Pfizer Inc. He is the former CEO of Renovis, Inc., a neuroscience biotechnology company. Currently, Dr. Goodman is an Adjunct Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Departments of Anatomy and Biochemistry. He was also professor of neurobiology in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, and the Wills Neuroscience Institute, at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Goodman is the co-founder of two biotechnology companies—Exelixis and Renovis.
Patricia S. Binger is a member of the board of directors of The McKnight Foundation. Her husband, James M. Binger, is the grandson of William L. McKnight, whose interest in the biology of the brain and memory led to the establishment of the Endowment Fund. The McKnight Foundation is Minnesota's largest, with assets of approximately $2 billion. It paid out approximately $90 million annually in grants in 2005.
Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D., is professor of neuroscience, biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University. He is also an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Jessell's work addresses the assembly and organization of sensory-motor circuits in the mammalian spinal cord. Born in England, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He shared the March-of-Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology in 2001 with another McKnight Endowment Fund board member, Corey Goodman, for advancing the science that underlies understanding of birth defects.
David Julius, Ph.D., is a professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. He discovered the nerve cell molecules that determine how the body responds to hot and cold temperatures, and that also enable us to sense capsaicin (the pungent ingredient in chili peppers) and menthol (the cooling agent from mint). His lab researches how the nervous system detects pain-producing stimuli and how changes in these mechanisms may contribute to chronic pain syndromes following tissue or nerve injury. Dr. Julius, who has twice received awards from The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, has published widely in Nature, Cell, Science, and other publications. He earned his bachelor's degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Ph.D., is the Lou and Ellen McGinley Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. His research focuses on drug addiction, particularly the molecular changes produced by drugs of abuse and factors that determine individual differences in response to drugs. A former McKnight Scholar, Nestler serves on scientific advisory boards for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression, and the National Alliance for Autism Research. He is a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council and the Institute of Medicine.
Larry Squire, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at the University of California School of Medicine, San Diego, and research career scientist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego. Dr. Squire is recognized internationally for his research investigating the organization and neurological foundations of memory. His work involves the study of neurological patients, nonhuman primates, and rodents, and uniquely combines the traditions of cognitive science and neuroscience. Among his publications are his books Memory and Brain and Memory: From Mind to Molecules (with Eric Kandel). A former president of the Society for Neuroscience, Dr. Squire is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine.
David W. Tank, Ph.D., a professor of molecular biology and physics at Princeton University, has made major contributions in biophysical neurobiology. Among other things, he has measured calcium ions in neurons and helped develop functional MRI imaging. His research interests include the measurement, analysis, and mathematical modeling of electrochemical signaling in the nervous system; and the cellular and network mechanisms of persistent neural activity, which is associated with short-term memory. Dr. Tank is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the scientific review board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He holds the Henry Hillman Professorship in molecular biology at Princeton.
Kate Wolford became president of The McKnight Foundation in December 2006. Prior to joining McKnight, Wolford spent 13 years as president of Lutheran World Relief, a Maryland-based nonprofit agency that works with grantees and development networks in 35 countries to provide relief and to combat the causes of poverty.
Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D., is a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology, Neuroscience, and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She applies the tools of modern genetics to understand brain development and the causes of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1). Zoghbi's work in neurodevelopment led to the discovery of the gene Math1, which governs the development of several components of the proprioceptive pathway as well as hair cells in the inner ear. She is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
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