Gerald (Gerry) B. Downes, PhD

Gerald (Gerry) Downes, PhD is an associate professor in biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received a BS in biology from Johnson C Smith University, a PhD in neuroscience from Washington University School of Medicine, and postdoctoral training from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. In 2005, he became an assistant professor in the biology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and he was promoted to associate professor in 2012. His research has two related goals. One goal is to better understand how neural networks in the brain and spinal cord are assembled to control movement. More recently, due to personal and professional reasons, he established a second goal, which is to provide new insights into epilepsies and develop new therapeutics to treat these disorders. Across his career, Downes has won several awards for his work, including a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship at Washington University, a Merck/United Negro College Fund (UNCF) postdoctoral fellowship, and research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. In addition to his research activities, Downes is very involved in teaching and science outreach. He serves on NIH study sections, the editorial board for the journal Genetics, the TBCK Syndrome Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, the Scientific Advisory Board for the Marine Biological Laboratory's (MBL) Zebrafish course, and he is co-director of the MBL's Summer Program In Neuroscience, Excellence, and Success (SPINES).