Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences

Welcome to the Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences of Penn State College of Medicine. The department was created in 2006 by the amalgamation of the Department of Neuroscience and Anatomy with the Department of Behavioral Science. In addition to their own research programs, our faculty members have strong collaborations with many other basic science and clinical departments.

We also have strong educational programs and serve as the home for the anatomy and neuroscience graduate programs, which provide opportunities for both master's and doctoral students.

As a community of researchers, we strive to perform our research and education missions within a welcoming, inclusive and diverse environment for all students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and faculty.

We work closely with the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to continually educate ourselves, enhance our departmental culture of inclusion and be leaders in social justice issues in our broader community.

The nervous system is the organ of sensation, perception and response that regulates and integrates all bodily functions and behaviors, and studies of its structure and function are among the most exciting areas of neuroscience today.

The dramatic growth in techniques and knowledge in the areas of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, combined with increasingly sophisticated electrophysiological and behavioral methods, are allowing for unprecedented opportunities to discover how the nervous system works and how it communicates with the rest of the body as well as with the outside world.

As we continue to expand the department, we are hiring new faculty who can take advantage of these new scientific approaches and opportunities while actively supporting and enhancing our department's missions of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Patricia Sue Grigson, MS, PhD
Chair, Neural and Behavioral Sciences
Penn State College of Medicine