Regina C. Armstrong, PhD

Dr. Regina C. Armstrong is Director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM). The CNRM is a collaborative intramural research program of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). The CNRM focus is pre-clinical through clinical research to promote recovery from traumatic brain injury and to improve psychological health in combat casualties cared for at WRNMMC.

Dr. Armstrong earned a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester, where she began research training in multiple sclerosis at the Center for Brain Research. She was a National Science Foundation Fellow for work toward her Ph.D. in Neurobiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She did postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH).

Dr. Armstrong’s primary academic appointment is as Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics in the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at USU. Dr. Armstrong holds secondary appointments in the Neuroscience and the Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Programs. Dr. Armstrong received the faculty award for Outstanding Graduate Biomedical Educator from the School of Medicine in 2002. She served as Director of the USU Neuroscience Graduate Program from 2002-2008 before stepping down to begin as Director of the CNRM. Dr. Armstrong teaches in the first year medical student module on the nervous system and in several graduate student courses. Dr. Armstrong’s laboratory focuses on mechanisms of damage and repair in the brain and spinal cord. This work employs diverse research approaches, from molecular techniques to neuroimaging, to address ways to improve neuroregeneration and repair capacity in the CNS. Research efforts in her laboratory have been funded through peer-reviewed competitive awards from the NIH, the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and the Department of Defense.