Project Title: Investigating the Role of Traumatic Injury in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia (ALS/FTD)
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Funding NIH Institute/Center: National Institute on Aging
Grant ID: K99AG075363
Eric N. Anderson was born in Guyana, South America, before migrating to Brooklyn, New York. He attended the City of New York University-Medgar Evers College and developed a passion for biomedical sciences after successfully completing summer research at California Institute of Technology and Ohio State University. He earned a PhD in biology/neurobiology at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Anderson currently holds a postdoctoral (postdoc) position at the University of Pittsburgh and is a recipient of several awards, including the Association of Frontotemporal Degeneration postdoc fellowship, Kennedy Disease Association postdoc fellowship, National Institutes of Health T32 fellowship, and travel awards. Dr. Anderson is interested in understanding how genetic factors and traumatic brain injury alter neurodegenerative disease-related proteins' normal functions and pathways critical for cell survival. He aims to find therapeutic targets for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and traumatic brain injury. He passionately believes that diversity is an integral part to the advancement of science because it will improve innovation, creativity, problem-solving, decision-making, and many other aspects of science. Upon assuming an independent academic career, Dr. Anderson will remain committed to recruiting and mentoring a diverse pool of candidates in his laboratory, as well as participating in the recruitment of underrepresented students at the high school and college levels into the STEM field.