New Neurosciences Faculty: Amanda Woerman (Biology), ChangHui Pak (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), Jennifer Mack (Communications Disorders), Stephanie Padilla (Biology), Bruna Martins (Psychological & Brain Sciences), Karine Fenelon (Biology), Sarah Pallas (Biology)

Dr. Amanda Woerman will be joining the Biology Department in the fall of 2019 and will be a member of the Neuroscience & Behavior graduate program. It is worth noting that Amanda is the 7th woman hired into the Neurosciences in the last two years.  Amanda earned my doctorate in Molecular Medicine at The George Washington University in 2013. She is currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco. She works in the laboratory group of Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner. Her research is focused on investigating protein misfolding and spreading in neurodegenerative disease, with an emphasis on the frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) and the movement disorder multiple system atrophy (MSA).  When she joins UMass, she plans to expand on her previous work by focusing on developing assays that differentiate and characterize disease-causing a-synuclein and tau strains. This could lead to personalized approaches to treating these neurological diseases.