By Anita Srikameswaran
University of Pittsburgh neuroscientist Peter L. Strick will become president-elect of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in November, beginning a three-year period of leadership of the world’s largest organization of scientists and physicians dedicated to learning how the brain and nervous system work.
Strick, Pitt’s Dr. Thomas Detre Professor of Neuroscience and neurobiology department chair, and the SfN executive committee will represent more than 30,000 experts from 95 countries who aim to advance the understanding of the brain and brain disorders, support neuroscience research, educate the public and train the next generation of neuroscientists. At the conclusion of a Washington, D.C.-based annual meeting that is typically one of the biggest scientific conferences in the world, Strick will become SfN’s president-elect. He will begin serving as president after the 2027 meeting, followed by a year in the role of past president.
“I am profoundly honored to have the opportunity to serve in this role,” Strick said. “This is an exceptionally challenging time to be a scientist. If we ever needed SfN before, we sure do need it now to stand as our advocate, to promote the process of discovery and to make our science accessible to each other and to the public.”
Strick’s research focuses on the neural control of voluntary movement, the functional organization of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum, and unraveling the complex networks that comprise our central nervous system. In recent years, he has been exploring the therapeutic potential of engaging alternate neural circuits to help people with Parkinson’s disease cope with motor challenges. He is also investigating brain-body connections that enable the central nervous system to influence the function of body organs such as the stomach and heart and the adrenal medulla.
Strick joined the Pitt faculty 26 years ago as a professor and codirector of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a collaboration between Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University. He became the founding director of the Systems Neuroscience Center in 2007 and, in 2012, was appointed chair of neurobiology and codirector of the Center for Neuroscience.
His recent honors include the Paul D. MacLean Award from the American Psychosomatic Society (2018); the Carnegie Science Award in the Life Sciences, (2018); and the Krieg Cortical Kudos Discoverer Award, Cajal Club (2019). Strick was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2004) and to the National Academy of Sciences (2012).
Strick cofounded the Neural Control of Movement Society in 1990 and served as its president from 2007-10. He was editor in chief of the Journal of Neurophysiology and a senior editor of Cerebral Cortex, and he currently serves as an editorial board member of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I look forward to working with our broad community of SfN members and their students, SfN staff, advocacy groups and the public at large to help our science thrive,” Strick said.