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Jordi Folch-Pi Memorial Award for 1992

Dr. Cheryl Craft

Dr. Cheryl Craft

Dr. Cheryl Craft was the winner of the 1992 Jordi-Folch-Pi Memorial Award from the American Society of Neurochemistry. Her research focus has focused on understanding the genes expressed in the eye and pineal gland that interact with the environment for normal vision to occur.  When these genes are abnormal, the defect may lead to loss of sight through photoreceptor cell death and the uncoupling or desynchronization of the body’s “biological clock.”  Dr. Craft earned her doctorate in human anatomy and neuroscience from the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, the Biomedical Graduate School, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.  She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship to study molecular neurobiology and neurogenetics at the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, National Eye Institute.  Her first academic faculty appointment was in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas where she was the founding Director of Molecular Neurogenetics for the Affective Disorders Center and the Dallas Veterans Affairs Schizophrenia Research Center. Dr. Craft is Professor with tenure and served as the founding Chairman of the Department of Cell and Neurobiology (1994-2004).  She was founding Co-Director of the Neurological Institute and an integral team leader in the creation of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.  In preparing the students of today to be research scientists, physicians and informed citizens of tomorrow, she personally mentors high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students in science education and bench research.  For her scientific expertise and achievements, Dr. Craft has received academic awards, major research funding from both public and private foundations, and has appeared on national network television. She has been an invited speaker at national and international scientific conferences. She serves on national committees, study sections, and international scientific advisory boards of the John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation and VASIX Corporation, The MUSES, and the Los Angeles Founding Chapter of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS).