Robert C. Malenka, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Robert C. Malenka is the Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Nancy Pritzker Laboratory at Stanford University and Deputy Director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. Dr. Malenka received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University and then completed a residency in psychiatry at Stanford. He has been 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.

His many contributions over the last 25 years have laid the groundwork for a much more sophisticated understanding of the mechanisms by which neurons communicate and the adaptations in synaptic communication which underlie all forms of normal and pathological behavior. Because of his training as both a clinical psychiatrist and cellular neurobiologist, he has been at the forefront of helping to apply the knowledge gained from basic neuroscience research to the treatment and prevention of major neuropsychiatric disorders.