Patricia Grigson-Kennedy

Patricia Grigson-Kennedy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics at Penn State College of Medicine. She also serves as Director of the Penn State Addiction Center for Translation (PS-ACT), is an Executive Committee member of the Neuroscience Institute, and is affiliated with the Penn State Cancer Institute and Cancer Control program.

Dr. Grigson-Kennedy's research focuses on substance abuse and addiction, with particular emphasis on how drugs of abuse commandeer natural learning, memory, and motivational systems. Her laboratory has decades of experience studying intake, learning, memory, and motivation for natural rewards using rodent models. She has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 28 years and is the recipient of an NIH MERIT award, which recognizes the top tier of research funded by the NIH.

Her recent research has examined the potential of GLP-1 receptor agonists for treating opioid use disorder and other substance addictions, with several publications in 2023-2025 exploring these mechanisms. Her work bridges animal models to human applications, investigating how drugs like nicotine, cocaine, and opioids affect behavior and how new treatment approaches might be developed.

• NIH MERIT Award recipient
• College of Medicine's Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Principal investigator on multiple NIDA and Pennsylvania Department of Health grants

Dr. Grigson-Kennedy has mentored eight graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows in successful National Research Service Awards. She directs Penn State's annual addiction symposium (begun in 2015), which brings together nearly 150 physicians, scientists, students, and community members to advance knowledge and retool treatment options for people with addictions.