Benowitz Lab - People

Larry2 Larry Benowitz (larry.benowitz@childrens.harvard.edu)

Dr. Benowitz is the Director of the Laboratories for Neuroscience Research in Neurosurgery and an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. He has contributed over 100 original research articles and review chapters, and is internationally known for his research on molecular mechanisms underlying axonal rewiring after injury in the mature CNS. Dr. Benowitz received his doctorate in the lab of Roger Sperry at Caltech, then did postdoctoral research in the labs of Harvey Karten and Walle Nauta at MIT. He received further postdoctoral training in molecular approaches to the nervous system at McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. His research has led to the discovery of several novel approaches to enhance brain reorganization after injury, some of which will soon be going into clinical trials. Dr. Benowitz has trained many predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Benowitz serves as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Awards and Honors, organizes the Advanced Topics in Neurobiology course, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Program in Neuroscience. At Children's Hospital, he is a member of the Research Faculty Council and chair of the Animal Resources committee. Extramurally, he has served on the Central Visual Processing Study Section of the NIH and is on the review board of a major private foundation. Along with continued funding from the NIH (National Eye Insti-tute and the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Stroke) and from Boston Life Sci-ences, Inc. his laboratory receives funding from the Adelson Program for Neural Repair and Rehabilitation. His research has been written up nationally and internationally, and he was re-cently named by Scientific American as one of the 50 leaders in technology/business/policy for the year 2006. Dr. Benowitz has recently been invited to speak at a number of national and inter-national symposia, including the Gordon Research Conference on Tissue Repair and Regeneration (New Hampshire), National Neurotrauma Society (Washington, DC), 11th International Symposium on Neural Regeneration (Asilomar, CA), International Stroke Conference (Kissimee, FL), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Vanderbilt University, Esteve Foundation Symposium (S'Agaro, Spain) and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Professional Positions
1974-1975 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA
1975-1977 Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. Biological Chemistry, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA
1977-1979 Research Associate in Biological Chemistry, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital
1979-1987 Assistant Professor (Psychobiology), Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1979-1990 Associate Biochemist, McLean Hospital
1984- Associate, Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1984-1990 Chief, Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology and Neuropsychology, McLean Hospital
1987-1990 Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Neuroscience), Harvard Medical School
1990- Associate Professor of Neurosurgery (Neuroscience), Harvard Medical School
1990- Director, Laboratories for Neuroscience Research in Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital

Awards and Other Professional Activities
1974-1975 NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship;1975-1977 Medical Foundation Fellow; 1978-1980 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (Neuroscience); 1979-1990 Chairman, Seminar Committee, McLean Hospital; 1980 Harvey Shein Award, McLean Hospital (First prize for submitted paper); 1980 Visiting Scientist, The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.; 1984-1987 Consultant for Positron Emission Tomography program, MGH ; 1985-1988 Chairman, Boston Area Neuroscience Group (B.A.N.G.); 1986 Co-Chairman, NRP Conference, Neuroscience Institute, Rockefeller University ; 1987-1989 Neurological Sciences, Visual Sciences B Study Sections, NIH (ad hoc); 1988 Advisory Panel, National Eye Institute, NIH; 1989- Steering Committee, Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Med. School; 1989-1997 Admissions Committee, Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Med. School; 1991- Faculty Council, Children's Hospital; 1994-1997 Awards Committee and Human Resources Comm. (Chair), Children's Hospital; 1993-2001 Editorial Board, Brain Research; 1995- Review committee, Whitehall Foundation; 1997- Visual Sciences B Study Section, National Institutes of Health (Regular member, 2001-); 1997- Co-chair, Standing Committee on Honors and Awards, Harvard Medical School; 1998 Chairman, Symposium on Signaling Pathways and Growth-Associated Proteins in Axon Outgrowth, 12th Biennial Mtg., International Soc. Developmental Neuroscience, Vancouver, B.C.; 1998 Chairman, Symposium on Synaptic Signaling, European Society for Neurochemistry, Saint Petersburg, Russia.; 2001 Plenary speaker, International Symposium on Regeneration, Asilomar, CA; 2002, Keynote speaker, "Neuroscience Day", Medical College of Ohio; 2003, Visiting Professor, Univ. Pennsylvania; 2006 Recipient of Scientific American's Top 50 award.


Children's Hospital-Boston	Boston Neurosurgical Foundation	Harvard Medical School

©2004 Labs for Neuroscience Rearch in Neurosurgery. All Rights Reserved. Site Design: Dave Goldberg