Robert Charles Malenka

Dr. Robert C. Malenka is the Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Malenka is a world leader in elucidating the mechanisms underlying the action of neurotransmitters in the mammalian brain and the molecular mechanisms by which neural circuits are reorganized by experience. A major goal of his laboratory is to elucidate the specific molecular events that are responsible for the triggering reorganization of neural circuits, or synaptic plasticity. A related but independent area of research in his laboratory is the elucidation of the synaptic action of drugs of abuse such as the psychostimulants cocaine and amphetamine. Because chronic exposure to drugs of abuse elicit long-term adaptive changes in critical neural circuits, it is hoped that this research will provide important clues to the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of tolerance, dependence and addiction. Malenka’s training as both a clinical psychiatrist and cellular neurobiologist has enabled him to be at the forefront applying the knowledge gained from basic neuroscience research to the treatment and prevention of major mental illness. Malenka has received numerous awards for his research contributions including the Julius Axelrod Mentorship Award, the Pasarow Foundation Award for Extraordinary Accomplishment in Medical Research, the NARSAD Goldman-Rakic Prize, the Kemali Foundation International Prize in Neuroscience, the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, the Daniel H. Efron Award, a McKnight Investigator Award; an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from Stanford Medical School. In addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership, Malenka is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Medicine and a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. His numerous publications appear in notable journals such as Cell, Journal of Neuroscience, Nature, Neuron, and Science.