Danny G. Winder, PhD

Vanderbilt University

Danny G. Winder, Ph.D., is a Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Winder received his B.S. from North Georgia College, and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University in 1995. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel, M.D., at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, he joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1999 as assistant professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. He was promoted to full professor in 2010.

A neuroscientist focused on stress and addiction, Dr. Winder has been particularly interested in determining mechanisms that modulate synaptic plasticity, and how and when these processes are disrupted by stress and during Alcohol/Substance Use Disorder. To accomplish these goals, he and his colleagues have pioneered the use of whole cell patch clamp and extracellular recordings in ex vivo brain slice preparations containing key stress circuits.

In 2013, Dr. Winder received a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award and in 2016 a MERIT Award from NIAAA. In 2017, he was awarded the F. Peter Guengerich award in the School of Medicine for postdoctoral mentoring, as well as the Bixler-Johnson-Mayes Endowed Chair. He is founding director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, which was established in 2016 to define events that drive addictive behavior and develop new treatments to sustain recovery. At the national level, he has served as an associate editor of The Journal of Neuroscience, section editor of Neuropharmacology and on the editorial board of Molecular Pharmacology.