Cheryl Conrad

Cheryl Conrad is a Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Studies at Arizona State University (ASU), where she has been since 1997. Her research focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms of chronic stress, particularly its impact on brain plasticity and resilience, with applications to depression, anxiety, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease. She holds affiliations with the School of Life Sciences, Neuroscience Program, and the Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology area.

Education: Postdoctoral Fellow, Rockefeller University (1994-1997); Ph.D., Neuroscience, University of Illinois (1994); B.S. Biology and Chemistry, University of California-Irvine (1986).

Research Interests: Chronic stress effects on hippocampal and prefrontal cortex structure/function, sex differences in neuroplasticity, stress-induced cognitive deficits, and translational models of psychiatric disorders. Her lab uses rodent models to study stress mechanisms, with recent work on estrogen’s protective role in middle-aged females and Alzheimer’s-related gene expression in the nucleus incertus.

Awards: Over 20 awards including ASU’s Outstanding Achievement Award (2012), multiple teaching nominations, and recognition for mentoring. Her work is funded by NIH and other agencies.

Grants: Includes NIH-funded projects on stress-estrogen interactions in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex dysfunction. Recent research explores BDNF’s role in stress recovery and environmental enrichment’s protective effects.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Behavioral Neuroscience Research in Stress lab, training over 50 undergraduate/graduate students and postdocs. Collaborates with Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s models and the University of Arizona on estrogen studies.