Professor Dennis Choi, MD, PhD
Science Advisory Board Member

Professor Dennis W. Choi, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized neurologist and neuroscientist whose research helped define the cellular mechanisms of neuronal injury and establish neuroprotection as a field of scientific and therapeutic investigation. He serves as a member of SMDG’s Science Advisory Board.

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As a graduate researcher, Professor Choi made a seminal contribution to neuroscience by demonstrating that benzodiazepines enhance the function of GABA receptors. He subsequently pioneered systematic studies of neuronal death, identifying fundamental roles for excitotoxicity, NMDA receptor activation and calcium overload in neurological injury. His laboratory also advanced understanding of the contributions of zinc, potassium, apoptosis and intracellular signaling pathways to neuronal damage following stroke, trauma and other acute insults.

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Professor Choi’s career has spanned academic medicine, pharmaceutical research and scientific philanthropy. He held faculty positions at Stanford University and later served as the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and Head of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine. His subsequent leadership roles included Executive Vice President for Neurosciences at Merck Research Laboratories, Vice President for Academic Health Affairs at Emory University, Executive Vice President of the Simons Foundation, Professor and Chair of Neurology and Director of the Neurosciences Institute at Stony Brook University, and Director of the Brain Science Institute at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.

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He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Choi has served as President of the Society for Neuroscience, Vice President of the American Neurological Association and founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of Neurobiology of Disease. He has also advised numerous scientific and governmental organizations, including the US Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and National Academies.

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His scientific achievements have been recognized through numerous distinctions, including the Wakeman Award for Neuroscience Research, the Silvio O. Conte Decade of the Brain Award, the Ho-Am Prize in Medical Science and the Christopher Reeve Research Medal.

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Professor Choi received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and earned both his MD and PhD through Harvard Medical School and the Harvard–MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. He subsequently completed his residency and fellowship training in neurology at Harvard.