Originally published: . Volume 9, No. 8. Source pages: 8, 9.
An alumnus who was inspired with a “thirst for knowledge” and helped to set new priorities in his life by Professor Gary Dohanich, has established the “Gary P. Dohanich Professor in Brain Sciences,” in the Tulane Brain Institute. Dr. Jill Daniel has been named the inaugural appointee for the position. Dr. Daniel is Professor in the Tulane Psychology Department and Director of the Neuroscience Program at Tulane.
Mr. Wayne Teetsel, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology in 1987 and an MBA in 1990 from Tulane, attributes Dr. Dohanich with inspiring him and helping him begin to take his education seriously, reported Kirby Messinger for Tulane News.
Gary Dohanich, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Tulane University. He is the co-founder of Tulane’s major and masters programs in Neuroscience, and is the current director of Tulane’s doctoral program in Neuroscience. Dohanich is the recipient of Tulane University’s highest teaching awards, including the 1996 Sheldon Hackney Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2007 Weiss Presidential Fellowship for Undergraduate Education, and the 2014 President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.
Teetsel said to Tulane News, “When I started at Tulane in 1983, I didn’t really take school that seriously. Every class was a chore,” he said. “It all changed after I met Dr. Dohanich. I realized that I had this really fantastic opportunity. I wanted to take advantage of the resources I had at my disposal.”
“By honoring Gary, I hope I’m showing that teaching matters – that students matter,” said Teetsel. “It’s not just about research and grants. That’s important but at the core it’s about education.”
According to Tulane News, Mr. Teetsel recently retired as a General Partner at Stonehill Capital Management, LLC, which is an advisor to Stonehill Institutional Partners L.P. and Stonehill Offshore Partners LLC, located in NYC. Both funds specialize in distressed and special situation investing and together manage approximately $3 billion in capital.
Dr. Dohanich has published over 65 research articles, scholarly reviews, and book chapters, and held grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. He regularly teaches courses in Stress and Trauma, Psychopharmacology, and Behavioral Endocrinology. His research has focused on the roles of gonadal and adrenal hormones as moderators of cognitive, affective, and reproductive functions, as well as the impact of biological sex on the development and expression of behavior.
The first appointee, Dr. Jill Daniel, is a founding director of the transdisciplinary Tulane Brain Institute, which was established in 2016 to coordinate and expand neuroscience research and education across all campuses of the university. Dr. Daniel is Professor in the Tulane Psychology Department.
“Gary taught me how to be a scientist,” Daniel said to Barri Bronson of Tulane News. “I owe so much of what I have accomplished in my career to his mentorship.”
Research from Daniel’s lab has contributed to the understanding of mechanisms by which estrogens and androgens impact areas of the brain that are vital to cognition.
“I’m intrigued by the fact that these hormones, the primary function of which is to control reproduction, exert powerful effects throughout the brain, including on areas involved in learning and memory,” Daniel said. “Our work aims to understand why and how this occurs.”
Daniel’s work is focused on the impact of estrogens and androgens on the brain and cognition across the lifespan, snf supported by awards from the National Institutes of Health.
Her and her team’s research aims to help understand the mechanisms of estrogens and androgens and how these impact areas of the brain, according to her website. Of special importance is the issues of cognition and memory. She and her group of master’s and doctoral students look at the impact of hormones on both the brain and cognitive function across the lifespan. Daniel publishes in journals such as Psychopharmacology, Hormones and Behavior, and Endocrinology. With her efforts, she hopes to guide understanding of how hormones help organize mammalian brains as male or female, and also what impact these have on the aging brain.
Drs. Jill Daniel and Edward Golob, researchers in neuroscience and faculty in the Tulane Psychology Department, had their work featured in the Tulane Magazine, “Brain Signals: The Mysteries of the Brain Lead Tulane Researchers Down Paths of Discovery.”
The “Gary P. Dohanich Professor in Brain Sciences,” has been created at Tulane for the Tulane Brain Institute. Dr. Jill Daniel has been named the inaugural appointee for the position. Above, Dr. Dohanich presents at a previous conference.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.