Susan G. Amara is an American professor of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

and is the Scientific Director of the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primar ...

. Dr. Amara is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. She is a Past-President of the

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well k ...

. Dr. Amara has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Physiology and Pharmacology from the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

Career

Amara was a faculty at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and the Vollum Institute as an

HHMI The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

Investigator. She was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004, and became a fellow of the AAAS in 2007. Her main research interests are the parts of the brain that get activated when people take certain addictive drugs, specifically

attention deficit hyperactive disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple con ...

(ADHD) medicine (

Adderall Adderall and Mydayis are trade names for a combination drug containing four salts of amphetamine. The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a (3:1) ratio between dextroamphetamine and l ...

and

Ritalin Methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin ( ) and Concerta ( ) among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It may be taken by mouth ...

), cocaine, and antidepressants. Amara's laboratory examined the impact of

psychostimulant Stimulants (also known as central nervous system stimulants, or psychostimulants, or colloquially as uppers) are a class of drugs that increase alertness. They are used for various purposes, such as enhancing attention, motivation, cognition ...

and

antidepressant Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. Common side effects of antidepressants include Xerostomia, dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, akathi ...

drugs on the signaling properties,

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

and regulation of two families of sodium-dependent

neurotransmitter transporters Neurotransmitter transporters are a class of membrane transport proteins that span the cellular membranes of neurons. Their primary function is to carry neurotransmitters across these membranes and to direct their further transport to specific intr ...

, which are the

biogenic amine A biogenic amine is a biogenic substance with one or more amine groups. They are basic nitrogenous compounds formed mainly by decarboxylation of amino acids or by amination and transamination of aldehydes and ketones. Biogenic amines are o ...

and the

excitatory amino acid An amino acid neurotransmitter is an amino acid which is able to transmit a nerve message across a synapse. Neurotransmitters (chemicals) are packaged into vesicles that cluster beneath the axon terminal membrane on the presynaptic side of a s ...

carriers. Amara is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow member of the AAAS. From 2010 to 2011, she has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, as a Secretary-Treasurer of ASPET, and as the 2011 President of the Society for Neuroscience. She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology and is the editorial board of PNAS. In 2011, she testified before the United States Senate in support of funding for the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

(NIH). She argued in favor of funding by citing past successful NIH-funded projects that helped researchers find new ways to treat mental health and neurological disorders. In January 2013, Amara joined the DIRP becoming the NIMH Scientific Director and continues her research in her new lab at the NIMH, the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology in the Section on Molecular and Cellular Signaling. Since 1992, she is the member of NIH review and advisory panels, on study section chair on the

National Advisory Council The National Advisory Council (NAC) was an advisory body set up by the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004 to advise the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh. Sonia Gandhi served as its chairperson for much of the tenur ...

for the

National Institute on Drug Abuse The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual ...

(NIDA), on the Board of Scientific Counselors for NIDA, and on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, supports and conducts biomedical and Behavioral research, behavioural research on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevent ...

(NIAAA). She also serves as an Associate Editor for the

Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology The ''Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about pharmacology and toxicology. It was first published in 1961 as the ''Annual Review of Pharmacology'', changing its name i ...

and is on the editorial boards of several journals; the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

. Amara's laboratory has twenty U.S. patents issued on technology. Dr. Amara served as president-elect of the American Association of the Advancement of Science(AAAS) beginning in 2020. Beginning in February of 2021 Dr. Amara served as president of the AAAS. Beginning in February of 2022 Dr. Amara obtained a chair on the board of directors of the AAAS.

Honors and awards

*Burroughs Wellcome Hitchings Award in drug discovery *The

Young Investigator Award *The ASPET John Jacob Abel Award *McKnight Neuroscience Investigator Award *

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical an ...

from NIDA *NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award *Julius Axelrod Award from the Catecholamine Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amara, Susan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Yale University faculty American neuroscientists Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni University of California, San Diego alumni American women neuroscientists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 21st-century American women scientists Presidents of the Society for Neuroscience