In July 2021, we began highlighting some of the incredible women leading our research initiatives at the McKnight Brain Institute. Check out some of our fearless leaders below!
Principal Investigator of the Social-Cognitive and Affective Development Lab
Dr. Natalie Ebner
Dr. Ebner’s expertise in experimental behavioral aging research coupled with her background in affective, social, and cognitive neuroscience allows for a comprehensive view of brain−behavior relationships in the study of healthy aging.

principal investigator of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engineering Lab at UF’s Preston A Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy.
Dr. Catherine Flores
Dr. Flores’ research interests are primarily in determining biological interactions between various cellular compartments involved in adoptive immunotherapy. Her studies also focus on leveraging systemic toxicity of frequently practiced clinical treatments in order to further enhance anti-tumor efficacy of immunotherapy.

Medical Director, UF Health Shands Comprehensive Stroke Center
Dr. Anna Khanna
Dr. Khanna is currently providing care for stroke patients in inpatient and outpatient settings. She mentors two stroke fellows, medical students and residents. Dr. Khanna’s main interests are in acute stroke management and continuing research in several clinical trials treating acute stroke.

Director, UF Department of Neurology Residency Program
Dr. Christina Wilson
Dr. Wilson currently provides stroke care for hospitalized patients and supervises resident continuity clinic. She also handles didactic training of stroke mechanisms of disease and mentors stroke fellows, medical students and residents. Dr. Wilson’s main interests lie in neurology graduate medical education and clinical stroke management.

Chair of UF’s Department of Physical Therapy
Dr. Krista Vandenborne
Dr. Vandenborne’s work presents a multidisciplinary, integrated research approach to study muscle degeneration/regeneration from a pathophysiological level to functional impairment. Her research uses MRI & spectroscopy to study skeletal muscle in patients, and she is leading a translational research program focused on developing and validating biomarkers in muscular dystrophy.

neuropsychology director of the movement disorders and neurorestoration program at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health
Dr. Dawn Bowers
Dr. Bowers is internationally known for her expertise in neurocognitive and emotion processing changes associated with age related disorders including Parkinson disease, Essential Tremor, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurologic disorders. Her research has spanned laterality, attention and memory, and neuropsychology of emotion using TMS, ERP, psychophysiology, near infrared stimulation, computational modeling, and face digitizing.

Director of Research for the Department of Neurology’s Division of Neurocritical Care
Dr. Carolina Maciel
Dr. Maciel is a neurointensivist with dedicated training in EEG monitoring in critically ill patients. Dr. Maciel’s areas of scientific focus include neuroprognostication, secondary brain injury mechanisms while understanding the impact of cortical electrical phenomena after acute brain injuries, novel therapeutic approaches to status epilepticus and acute pain, and the critical care management of the potential organ donor.
![Graphic: [headline] U-F's Women of Neuro. [quote] “I aspire to serve as a role model for all members of the team, particularly in demonstrating that putting your heart and soul into everything you do always pays off. For me, being a leader means inspiring each person who crosses paths with me to push their ceiling higher, whatever that might be and in whichever role they are in.” Carolina Maciel, M-D, M-S-C-R Director of Research, Division of Neurocritical Care UF Department of Neurology. Doctor maciel is a latino woman with short brown hair standing in an office with a colorful string of garland behind her.](https://mbi.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2022/09/ft_Maciel_WoN-1200-×-800-px-600x400.png)
Director of the Mangurian Clinical-Research Headquarters for Lewy Body Dementia at the Fixel Institute
Dr. Melissa Armstrong
Dr. Armstrong’s research focuses on the lived experience of disease for individuals with Lewy body dementia and their families, ranging from patient and caregiver priorities for care to hospital outcomes to end-of-life experiences.

medical director of the UF Health Shands Neurointensive Care Unit
Dr. Katharina Busl
Dr. Katharina Busl is the medical director of the UF Health Shands Neurointensive Care Unit and UF’s neurocritical care division chief. Her research interests center around care innovations and quality of care in neurocritical care.

Director of the Center for Addiction Research & Education
Dr. Sara Jo Nixon
Dr. Nixon is a clinical researcher in the area of substance abuse and dependence. Due to the complex nature of substance abuse, her work uses comprehensive behavioral assessments including neuropsychological testing, brain electrophysiology, and clinical research interviews.

Director of the Perioperative Cognitive Anesthesia Network (PeCAN)
Dr. Catherine Price
Dr. Price’s research is devoted to studying the neuropsychology of older adults with and without dementia and neuroanatomical dissociates on older adults’ cognitive functioning and cognitive change.

interim chair of UF’s department of psychiatry
Dr. Carol Mathews
Dr. Mathews is a renowned clinician and translational researcher in the areas of obsessive-compulsive disorder, tics and anxiety disorders.

Co-Director of UF’s Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Dr. Malú Gámez Tansey
Dr. Tansey’s research explores the role and regulation of neuroinflammatory and immune system responses in modulating the gene-environment interactions that determine risk for development and progression of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease.

Former Chair of UF’s Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Regina Bussing
Dr. Bussing currently holds the position of professor and chief of faculty development in the department of psychiatry at UF. Her research expertise spans mental health services, measure development, pharmaco-epidemiology, psychotherapy intervention, and clinical pharmacology trials research.

Associate Director of UF’s Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory
Dr. Sara Burke
Dr. Burke’s research investigates mechanisms of cognition and determining how diet and metabolic function can increase resilience to memory loss in aging and disease. To answer these questions, her lab integrates data across multiple levels of analysis that includes neurophysiology, gene expression, anatomy and behavioral assays.

Associate Director of UF’s Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence
Dr. Yenisel Cruz-Almeida
Dr. Cruz-Almeida’s research is focused on understanding age-related pain perception and modulation in humans. Her research examines nervous system factors contributing to the observed inter-individual differences in pain phenotypes and its functional consequences including cognitive and mobility impairments.

Director of UF’s Center for NeuroGenetics
Dr. Laura Ranum
Dr. Ranum’s research focuses on the role of Repeat Associated Non-ATG (RAN) translation, RNA gain of function and protein gain of function in repeat expansion disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) types 5 and 8, myotonic dystrophy (DM) types 1 and 2 and Huntington’s disease (HD).

FORMER CHAIR OF UF’S DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY
Dr. Regina Bussing
Dr. Bussing currently holds the position of professor and chief of faculty development in the department of psychiatry at UF. Her research expertise spans mental health services, measure development, pharmaco-epidemiology, psychotherapy intervention, and clinical pharmacology trials research.

CHAIR OF UF’S DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCE
Dr. Jennifer Bizon
Dr. Jennifer Bizon is a professor and chair of the department of neuroscience. Her research is broadly focused on understanding brain aging and its implications for cognitive function. She participates in the training of medical students, graduate students, undergraduates, and postdoctoral fellows.
