Election Results: Meet the New SfN Leaders

The Society for Neuroscience extends sincere congratulations to its newly elected officers and councilors. The membership elected Oswald Steward as incoming president, Kenneth I. Maynard as incoming treasurer, and Patricia Janak as incoming secretary. The elected councilors are Suzanne Haber and Juan Lerma.

President Elect: Oswald Steward

Oswald Steward is the Distinguished Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurobiology & Behavior, and Neurosurgery at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine and the founding Director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. He also served as founding chair of the University of Virginia School of Medicine Department of Neuroscience from 1988 to 1999. Steward earned his PhD from University of California Irvine. His research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of repair in spinal cord injury, axon regeneration, synaptic plasticity, and RNA localization and local translation.

A dedicated SfN member since 1972, Steward is currently a member of the Finance Committee. He served on the SfN Council from 2014 to 2018 and 1998 to 1999 as well as several other committees throughout his career, including a term as chair of the Public Information Committee and chair of the Audit Committee. An associate editor for JNeurosci from 2004 to 2008, Steward currently sits on the editorial boards of Experimental Neurology, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Hippocampus, Journal of Neurotrauma, and Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. Beyond SfN, Steward continues to serve the field as a member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s Citizen Oversight Committee and Governance and Science subcommittees. He also sits on the Foundation for Biomedical Research board of directors.

Secretary-Elect: Patricia Janak

Patricia Janak is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is also Director of the Science of Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Janak earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the neurobiology of reward, associative learning, and addiction. Janak has served as SfN Program Committee chair from 2017 to 2020, as well as Program Committee member from 2012 to 2015 and Donald B. Lindsley Prize Selection Committee member from 2010 to 2012. She has successfully led two Gordon Research Conferences (GRCs), acting as Chair and Vice Chair of the Catecholamines GRC and the Alcohol GRC, respectively. Janak also serves as a member of the NIAAA T32 Developmental Neuroadaptations in Alcohol and Addictions, Binghamton University External Advisory Board. Her previous service includes the Charleston Alcohol Research Center scientific advisory board and multiple positions on NIH’s NIAAA and Neurotoxicology and Alcohol Study Section. Janak is a reviewing editor for JNeurosci and holds ongoing editorial positions at Psychopharmacology, International Review of Neurobiology, and Neuroscience.

Treasurer-Elect: Kenneth I. Maynard

Kenneth I. Maynard is Senior Director of Global Project Management, Pharmacovigilance Affiliate Relations, and Global Patient Safety and Evaluation for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Maynard has served on numerous SfN committees dating back to 1997, including a term as chair of the Membership Committee. He currently serves as a member of the SfN Council, Leadership Development Program faculty, and Audit Committee Chair. He earned his PhD from University of London, University College. His past research focused on cerebrovascular pathophysiology, cerebral ischemia/stroke, and migraine research, as well as extensive clinical trial research into multiple neurological disorders, chronic pain, and cerebellar ataxia. He was a fellow of the SfN Neuroscience Scholars Program in 199x. Throughout his career, Maynard has served the scientific community in several ways, including in his current advisory roles on the NINDS Advisory Council and the Worchester Polytechnic Institute for the Arts Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He was the member of the NIMH Translational Neuropsychopharmacology Taskforce from 2016 to 2017, NIH Director’s Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) external scientific panel from 2014 to 2019, and numerous committees for the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. He also holds editorial positions as ad hoc reviewer at Brain Circulation and Editorial Committee member at Dose Response – An International Journal.

Councilor: Suzanne Haber

Suzanne Haber is Dean’s Professor at the University of Rochester and Visiting Professor at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She earned her PhD from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the hard-wiring of cortical and corticobasal ganglia circuits, concentrating on prefrontal networks that are associated with psychiatric illnesses. She has previously served on the SfN Program Committee from 2016 to 2019, among numerous other SfN committee positions. Outside of SfN, she also serves on the Foundation for OCD Research scientific advisory board, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation scientific council, the Society of Biological Psychiatry program Committee, and the American college of Neuropsychopharmacology membership committee.   Her service to the field includes ongoing positions on the editorial boards for Brain Stimulation, Journal of Comparative Neurology, Basal Ganglia, Frontiers in Schizophrenia, and Frontiers in Anatomy, as well as several administrative roles at the University of Rochester.  She served on the American college of Neuropsychopharmacology Council and on their program committee.  She has also held positions on numerous NIH study sections and served as Treasurer and Executive Committee member the Winter Conference for Brain Research, and Chair of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Women’s Task Force.

Councilor: Juan Lerma

Juan Lerma is Profesor de Investigación at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and scientific director of the Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa-IN. He earned is PhD from Autonomous University of Madrid. His research areas include neural excitability and synaptic transmission, focusing on the structure and function of glutamate receptors. A longtime European member of SfN, Lerma has an extensive list of service to the field, including serving as Secretary General of FENS from 2016 to 2018, member of the Executive Committee of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies from 2014 to 2016, Chairman of the PanEuropean Regional Committee of the International Brain Research Organization from 2013 to 2016, and President of the Spanish Society for Neuroscience from 2011 to 2013. He currently serves as the Chief Editor of Neuroscience and sits on the editorial boards of Physiological Reviews, Neuron, and Neuroscience Bulletin. His service to the field includes serving as a panel member on the European Research Council and panel chairman on the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (France) in 2019 as well as several positions as a project evaluator and panel member for NSF, the Wellcome Trust (UK), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Chile’s Millennium Science Initiative, among others.