Pat Levitt, an esteemed neuroscientist from Vanderbilt University, has been named Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine, effective Nov. 1. He also will serve as Chair and Professor of Cell and Neurobiology at the Keck School and Provost’s Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, and Pharmacy at the USC School of Pharmacy effective full-time July 1, 2009.

“Dr. Levitt is a highly influential and productive scholar in the field of basic and translational neuroscience,” said Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito. “He is an academic star well-suited for leadership of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.”

Established in 2003, Zilkha serves as part of an initiative to expand the neuroscience effort at USC by bringing together basic and clinical scientists to concentrate on a range of disorders. Scientists reach across boundaries to embrace methods and techniques from other fields of study, identifying new approaches to examine nervous system function so we may all better understand the underlying causes of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Jeannie Chen has served as interim director of the institute since 2005.

As director of Zilhka, Levitt will lead the implementation of a strategic plan to understand the genetic and environmental basis for brain diseases. He will also develop plans to increase philanthropic efforts to enhance research and training, as well as lead recruitment efforts in collaboration with departments in the Keck School of Medicine, the USC School of Pharmacy and the Center for Genomic Psychiatry.

“The Provost and the deans of the Keck School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy have created an unusual opportunity for me to play a role in growing what is arguably the most exciting and most challenging biomedical science discipline – neuroscience,” said Levitt. “This takes commitment on the part of the USC administration and tapping into the great resources of the Los Angeles community by engaging them in a meaningful way. It’s up to us to embrace the opportunities.”

At Vanderbilt, Levitt is the Annette Schaffer Eskind Chair and Director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, and a tenured professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The Kennedy Center is a university-wide institute that supports highly interdisciplinary research, diagnosis, treatment and community outreach programs and clinics that focus on developmental influences in behavior, communication, learning and memory.

Named a McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002, Levitt is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Levitt serves on the editorial boards of the journals Autism Research, Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Disease Models and Mechanisms, Biological Psychiatry, Cerebral Cortex and Neuron. He was senior editor for the Journal of Neuroscience for six years.

Levitt has a long history of distinguished service to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in various advisory capacities. Of particular note, he is a member of the NIMH National Advisory Council, a high profile leadership position indicative of wide respect in the research community. He has published over 200 papers and is currently principal investigator of three NIH R01 grants and two NIH P50 program project grants (project leader). Levitt also has an excellent track record of foundation funding from the Simons Foundation, McKnight Endowment Fund, the Joseph and Esther Klingenstein Foundation, the March of Dimes, and other organizations.

“Through his extensive research experience, Levitt will increase the university’s prominence in the field of developmental neuroscience—particularly in the areas of autism and schizophrenia—by adding innovative research and offering interdisciplinary courses and research opportunities to USC students through Zilkha, Keck School of Medicine and the USC School of Pharmacy,” said Puliafito.

Dr. Levitt received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Chicago in 1975. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, in 1978 and completed an NIH Fellowship in Neuroanatomy at Yale University in 1981.