Flora Maria Vaccarino MD

Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Neurobiology and Residential College Associate Fellow in Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Biographical Info

Dr. Flora Vaccarino graduated in Medicine at Padua University in Italy and studied neuropharmacology and cell biology at NIH as a research fellow before starting her Residency in Psychiatry at Yale University. After her residency, she studied developmental biology and genetics and was appointed Assistant Professor at Yale University in 1994. She then pursued several lines of research, using genetic mouse models as well as human brain specimens, to understand the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. Her 1999 paper in Nature Neuroscience (Vaccarino et al, 3: 246-253, 1999) showing that a single administration of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 can induce permanent increases in cerebral cortical size, embodies the powerful role of these factors in development and plasticity.
Together with people in her lab, Dr. Vaccarino, now a full Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, studies mouse and human neural stem cells and their role in development and repair. She and a group of colleagues recently founded the Program in Neurodevelopment and Regeneration to harness the power of induced pluripotent stem cells for understanding individual variation in neurodevelopment and the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Education & Training

M.D.

Padua University Medical University (1979)

Resident

Yale University, School of Medicine, Psychiatry

Visiting Assistant Professor

FIDIA-Georgetown Institute for the Neurosciences

Research Fellow

NIMH-Laboratory of Preclinical Pharmacology

Honors & Recognition

• Harris Endowed Professorship
  Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine (2010)
• Lustman Award
  Yale University (1991)
• NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award
  NARSAD (2011)
• Collegio dei Docenti, Dottorato di Ricerca in Neuropsicofarmacologia Clinica e Sperimentale
  University of Messina, Italy (2011)
• Executive Councillor
  International Society for Developmental Neuroscience (2008)
• Tourette’s Syndrome Association Award
  Tourette’s Syndrome Association (2004)
• NARSAD Independent Investigator Award
  NARSAD (2003)
• Rotary International Educational Award
  Rotary Foundation (1981)
• Essel Investigator
  NARSAD (2003)
• NARSAD Independent Investigator Award
  NARSAD (2000)
• Tourette’s Syndrome Association Award
  Tourette’s Syndrome Association (1998)
• Professional Opportunities for Women in Research & Education Award
  National Science Foundation (1997)
• NARSAD Young Investigator Award
  NARSAD (1993)
• NARSAD Young Investigator Award
  National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (1990)

Professional Service

• Regular member, NIH (10/01/2005 - 10/01/2009)
• Editorial Board Member, Executive Council Member, International Society of Developmental Neuroscience (05/01/2008)
• (01/01/2011)
• Editorial Board, Frontiers in Neurogenesis (01/01/2008)
• Society for Neuroscience (01/01/1983)