{{short description|American neuroscientist}}{{Infobox scientist | name = Susan G. Amara | image = Susan Amara (33174821906).jpg | caption = | fields = Neuroscience, neuropharmacology | alma_mater = {{plainlist| * Stanford University (B.S.) * University of California, San Diego (Ph.D.) }} }} '''Susan G. Amara''' is an American professor of neuroscience and is the scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Amara is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a past-president of the Society for Neuroscience. Amara has a B.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/od/od_amara_s.html|title = Susan G. Amara, Ph.D. – Director of the Division of Intramural Research Programs|date = 9 January 2013|access-date = 15 October 2014|website = National Institute of Mental Health: Division of Intramural Research Programs|publisher = United States Department of Health and Human Services|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130214223223/http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/od/od_amara_s.html|archive-date = 14 February 2013|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://pharmacology.georgetown.edu/amara.html|title = Dr. Susan Amara: The Frank G. Standaert 2013 Lectureship in Pharmacology|access-date = 15 October 2014|website = Georgetown University Medical Center: Department of Pharmacology & Physiology|publisher = Georgetown University|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141015000502/http://pharmacology.georgetown.edu/amara.html|archive-date = 15 October 2014|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://bbrfoundation.org/scientific-council/susan-g-amara|title = Susan G. Amara, Ph.D.|access-date = 15 October 2014|website = Brain & Behavior Research Foundation|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140704030414/http://bbrfoundation.org/scientific-council/susan-g-amara|archive-date = 4 July 2014|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.cinp2014.com/plenary-speakers/susan-g-amara-usa.html|title = Susan G. Amara, USA|access-date = 15 October 2014|website = 29th CINP World Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology|publisher = The International College of Neuropsychopharmacology|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130812220239/http://www.cinp2014.com/plenary-speakers/susan-g-amara-usa.html|archive-date = 12 August 2013|url-status = live}}</ref>
== Career ==
Amara was a faculty at Yale University and the Vollum Institute as an HHMI Investigator.<ref name=georgetown>{{cite web|url=http://pharmacology.georgetown.edu/amara.html|title=Dr. Susan Amara|accessdate=13 November 2014}}</ref> She was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004, and became a fellow of the AAAS in 2007.<ref name=nih>{{cite web|url=http://www.nimh.nih.gov/labs-at-nimh/scientific-director/office-of-scientific-director/dr-susan-g-amara.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727114945/http://www.nimh.nih.gov/labs-at-nimh/scientific-director/office-of-scientific-director/dr-susan-g-amara.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 27, 2013|title=susan amara|accessdate=15 November 2014}}</ref>
From 2003 to 2012, she served at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as Thomas Detre Professor and Chair of Neurobiology, where she led the department’s neurobiology program.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Susan G. Amara {{!}} Gruber Foundation |url=https://gruber.yale.edu/person/susan-g-amara |access-date=2026-02-04 |website=gruber.yale.edu}}</ref>
Her main research interests are the parts of the brain that get activated when people take certain addictive drugs, specifically attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) medicine (Adderall and Ritalin), cocaine, and antidepressants. Amara's laboratory examined the impact of psychostimulant and antidepressant drugs on the signaling properties, physiology and regulation of two families of sodium-dependent neurotransmitter transporters, which are the biogenic amine and the excitatory amino acid carriers. Amara is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow member of the AAAS. From 2010 to 2011, she has served on the board of scientific counselors for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, as a secretary-treasurer of ASPET, and as the 2011 president of the Society for Neuroscience. She also serves as an associate editor for the'' Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology'' and is the editorial board of ''PNAS''.<ref name=georgetown />
In 2011, she testified before the United States Senate in support of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She argued in favor of funding by citing past successful NIH-funded projects that helped researchers find new ways to treat mental health and neurological disorders.<ref>Amara, Susan. [http://www.sfn.org/~/media/SfN/Documents/Statements%20and%20Testimony/NIH%20Statement%20for%20FY2012%20%20Senate.ashx Written statement of testimony] before U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee - Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education & Related Agencies. 11 April 2011. Society for Neuroscience (Washington, D.C.). Retrieved 5 November 2014.</ref>
In January 2013, Amara joined the DIRP becoming the NIMH scientific director and continues her research in her new lab at the NIMH, the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology in the Section on Molecular and Cellular Signaling. Since 1992, she is the member of NIH review and advisory panels, on study section chair on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), on the board of scientific counselors for NIDA, and on the board of scientific counselors for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). She also serves as an associate editor for the ''Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology'' and is on the editorial boards of several journals; the ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''.<ref name=nih />
Amara served as president-elect of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) beginning in 2020. Beginning in February 2021 Amara served as president of the AAAS. Beginning in February 2022 Amara obtained a chair on the board of directors of the AAAS.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-30 |title=NIMH Scientific Director Susan Amara Selected as AAAS President-Elect - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) |url=https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-updates/2020/nimh-scientific-director-susan-amara-selected-as-aaas-president-elect |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=www.nimh.nih.gov |language=en}}</ref>
== Honors and awards ==
*Burroughs Wellcome Hitchings Award in drug discovery<ref name=georgetown /> *The Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award<ref name=georgetown /> *The ASPET John Jacob Abel Award<ref name=georgetown /> *McKnight Neuroscience Investigator Award<ref name=georgetown /> *NIH MERIT Award from NIDA<ref name=georgetown /> *NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award<ref name=georgetown /> *Julius Axelrod Award from the Catecholamine Society.<ref name=georgetown />
== References == <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amara, Susan}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Yale University faculty Category:American neuroscientists Category:Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni Category:University of California, San Diego alumni Category:American women neuroscientists Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Fellows of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Category:21st-century American women scientists Category:Presidents of the Society for Neuroscience