Catherine Woolley

Catherine Woolley is the William Deering Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Northwestern University's Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. She holds a PhD from The Rockefeller University and specializes in neuroendocrinology, focusing on steroid regulation of synaptic structure/function and its impact on behavior, epilepsy, and mood disorders. Her work emphasizes sex differences in neural mechanisms, particularly in the hippocampus.

Research interests include neurosteroids' rapid effects on synaptic function, estrogen-driven synaptic modulation, and mechanisms underlying sex differences in neural circuits. She has pioneered studies on how estrogen influences hippocampal plasticity, linking these processes to conditions like anxiety, depression, and epilepsy.

Key honors include election to the National Academy of Medicine (2019), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2021), and the William Deering Chair (2013). She has led transformative research initiatives, including NIH-funded projects and Keck Foundation awards.

Woolley's lab is affiliated with the Center for Reproductive Science, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed articles, emphasizing sex as a critical biological variable in neuroscience research.