David D. Ginty, the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology, will become the seventh chair of the department effective Aug. 1. Image: Rick Groleau
Harvard Medical School’s Department of Neurobiology is starting a new chapter on Aug. 1 with the appointment of David Ginty, the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology, as the next chair of the department.
He will succeed Michael Greenberg, the Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology, who announced last November that he would be stepping down after 14 years as chair.
“The department stands for excellence and inclusion in neuroscience research, training, and education, and I am confident that David will further strengthen and evolve what is arguably the nation’s, if not the world’s, preeminent neurobiology department,” said HMS Dean George Q. Daley, announcing Ginty’s appointment to the HMS community.
Ginty becomes the seventh chair to lead the department, which was founded in 1966, introducing the field of neurobiology to the world. Today, the department includes 30 research laboratories that study neuroscience at the molecular, cellular, circuit, and systems levels, fueled by a commitment to address diseases of the nervous system.
“It is an honor and privilege to have been offered this opportunity to lead the department of neurobiology during this period of extraordinary discovery,” said Ginty. “Our department’s research, and the contributions we will make in the coming years, are certain to advance our understanding of the nervous system and the HMS mission of protecting and improving human health and training future leaders of the field.”
A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Ginty brings a wealth of experience and achievement to the position. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He is also the recipient of numerous research awards, including Columbia University’s W. Alden Spencer Award, the Julius Axelrod Prize from the Society for Neuroscience, and the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience from MIT.
The focus of Ginty’s lab is to gain a greater understanding of the development, organization, and function of the peripheral nervous system and the spinal cord and brain circuits that underlie the sense of touch in health and disease.
Ginty received his PhD in physiology from East Carolina University School of Medicine in 1989 and did postdoctoral research on neuronal signaling mechanisms, first with John Wagner and then with Mike Greenberg at HMS. In 1995, he became a faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, returning to HMS in 2013 to join the Department of Neurobiology, part of the Blavatnik Institute at HMS.
Since then, Ginty has served as associate director of the Harvard Program in Neuroscience and as a primary mentor to numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to independent faculty positions in academia and to industry.
In his announcement to the community, Daley thanked Greenberg “for his incredible vision and leadership of the department, and for being a thoughtful and trusted advisor to countless colleagues, including me.”
He added that Greenberg's “brilliance as a scientist, a leader, and a mentor, is woven into the fabric of HMS,” and said he was pleased that Greenberg will continue as a valued member of the HMS faculty and the neurobiology department, where his lab studies the underlying basis of developmental disorders linked to abnormalities in neural pathways and circuits in the human brain.
