IRACDA Scholar: Amalia Napoli, Ph.D.
Amalia Napoli
PhD: Neuroscience
IRACDA Placement: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
Email: amalia.napoli@stonybrook.edu
Amalia spent the first part of my professional life as a musician and music teacher. She returned to school after raising a family to pursue a long-awaited career in science. She completed a Master of Science in physiology and biophysics and then a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She has a keen interest in comparative and evolutionary neuroscience and am passionate about using alternative research models to understand how the mechanisms of developmental neurogenesis can be harnessed for central nervous system repair. Her reasearch aims to understand the role of NMDA receptors and chloride transporters in neurogenesis and neurodevelopment and how their dysfunction leads to disease pathogenesis.
Why I chose to join Stony Brook IRACDA : I am thrilled to be a part of the IRACDA program both for what it stands for and for the opportunity to be trained, mentored, supported, and shaped into the best teacher and independent scientist I can become. Having been born into a family with limited views of the potential and capabilities of women - views that kept me from realizing a scientific career in my early years - I know firsthand the implicit and explicit obstacles faced by women and other marginalized groups in science. Thus, I feel great consonance with the goals of the IRACDA program and was drawn to both its institutional tenets and structure as well as the dedicated and passionate people at Stony Brook University who comprise it.