Newly Appointed Chair of Neurobiology

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to announce the appointment of Genevieve Konopka, Ph.D., as chair of the Department of Neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, effective July 1, 2025.

Dr. Konopka is Professor and Vice Chair of Neuroscience, the Jon Heighten Scholar in Autism Research, and the Townsend Distinguished Chair in Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Konopka received dual B.S. degrees in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biology from MIT and completed her Ph.D. in Neurobiology at Harvard University. She also completed fellowships in developmental biology with Dr. Stephen Duncan at Medical College of Wisconsin and in neurogenetics with Dr. Dan Geschwind at UCLA.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards including a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, an NIH Pathway to Independence Award, a Basil O’Connor Scholar Award from the March of Dimes, a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, and an Understanding Human Cognition Scholar Award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. The research in the Konopka lab focuses on understanding the molecular pathways important for human brain evolution that are at risk in cognitive disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Her lab uses a combination of human neurons, animal models, and primate comparative genomics to uncover human-specific, disease-relevant patterns of gene expression. Recent work in her lab integrates gene expression with signatures of neuronal activity in the human brain. The Konopka lab is also part of the international Human Cell Atlas effort to map gene expression in every cell of the human body.

Please join us as we welcome Dr. Konopka back to UCLA and to her new role as chair of the Department of Neurobiology.

At this time, we thank Dr. Paul Micevych for his outstanding service and leadership at UCLA. We also thank the search committee members, whose names are listed below, for their dedication and commitment to the search process.

Sincerely,

John C. Mazziotta, MD, PhD
CEO, UCLA Health
Vice Chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences

Steven M. Dubinett, MD
Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Associate Vice Chancellor, UCLA

Department of Neurobiology Search Committee 

• Co-Chair Steve Cannon: Professor, Departments of Physiology and Neurology
• Co-Chair Kathrin Plath: Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry
• Samantha Butler: Professor, Department of Neurobiology
• Baljit Khakh: Professor, Departments of Physiology and Neurobiology
• Gina Poe: Professor, Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
• Carlos Portera-Cailliau: Professor, Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology
• Mayumi Prins: Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
• Alapakkam Sampath: Professor, Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurobiology
• Felix Schweizer: Professor, Department of Neurobiology
• Catherine Weston: Assistant to the Chair, Department of Neurobiology
• Larry Zipursky: Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry