Reha Erzurumlu, MA, PhD
26.05.2022
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
- University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
Dr. Reha Erzurumlu received his undergraduate degree (lisans) from Ankara University in philosophy and psychology (1972). He was awarded Fulbright Fellowship (1973-1975) and received his Masters degree in physiological psychology from Washington University in St Louis (USA). After a brief stay in Turkey, he was awarded a bursary from the Ministry of National Education, Turkey, and began his graduate studies at the Department of Psychobiology (currently Department of Neurobiology and Behavior), School of Biological Sciences, University of California at Irvine (USA). He received his PhD in 1981. After a brief military service, Dr. Erzurumlu entered competitive Assistant Professorship (Yrd. Doc) examinations and received that title from the Biology Department at the Middle East Technical University, shortly thereafter, he was appointed to Sivas Cumhuriyet University Biology Department by the Higher Education Commission of Turkey (1981-1982). In 1983, Dr. Erzurumlu transferred to the Department of Histology and Embryology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, and served as Assistant Professor until 1985. The same year, Dr. Erzurumlu accepted a position as Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Neuroscience, Brown University (Providence, RI), then moved to the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at M.I.T. (Cambridge, MA) as a Postdoctoral Associate (1987-1990). He was promoted to Research Scientist at the same institution (1990-1994). Dr. Erzurumlu accepted aposition as Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Neuroscience Center, LSUMC, New Orleans, LA in 1994, and received tenure the next year, and became a Full Professor. He served as Vice-Chair (2004-2006) for Research, Dept. of Cell Biology and Anatomy, as President (1997) of the Greater New Orleans Society for Neuroscience Chapter. Between 1999-2016, Dr. Erzurumlu served as a member on several Society for Neuroscience Committees such as the Chapters Committee (as Chair, 2002-2005), Committee on Neuroscience Literacy, International Affairs Committee, Global Membership Committee. Dr. Erzurumlu co-chaired FENS Scientific Symposia (Paris, 2002, Geneva, 2008). He received a prestigious Chercheur d’Haute Niveau award from the Ministère de Recherche, France and participated in a research project at the CNRS, Orsay, France (2001-2002).
In 1999, Dr. Erzurumlu and Prof. Gonul Peker of Ege University started the EGE-BINGSS (Ege Biennial International Neuroscience Graduate Summer School) which continued to date. This school received both national and international recognition with the participation of faculty and students at all levels from several countries. Dr. Erzurumlu gave numerous national and international invited lectures and seminars, served as a member of numerous NIH grant review panels, UK, Swiss and Israeli review panels, and continuously served as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is on the editorial boards of the Somatosensory Motor Research and Experimental Neurology. In 2010, Dr. Erzurumlu received an award from the École des Neurosciences Paris Île de France and pursued collaborative research project at the INSERM as Professeur en Sabbatique.
Dr. Erzurumlu is a tenured full Professor at the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine since 2006. Dr. Erzurumlu has taught and directed graduate school courses in Systems Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, medical school courses in Neuroscience, and Histology at both LSUHSC and UMB School of Medicine. Dr. Erzurumlu published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, numerous book chapters, reviews, co-edited books and most recently published a totally original Human Neuroanatomy text book in Turkish with Professors Gulgun Sengul (Ege University) and Emel Ulupinar (Osmangazi University). Currently, the English version of this original work is under contract for publication by Elsevier Publishing Company.
Dr. Erzurumlu’s research focuses on the development and plasticity of the cerebral cortex and somatosensory pathways. His laboratory uses in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, molecular biology, transgenic mouse models, neuroanatomy, and behavioral techniques to understand mechanisms underlying development of topographic maps, neural patterning, plasticity, and neonatal injury-induced alterations in the somatosensory system. Recent focus of his research is on the functional and structural defects in the thalamocortical circuitry and behavioral manifestations in animal models of developmental brain disorders. The mouse whisker-barrel cortex pathway (trigeminal system) is an excellent model to study wiring defects, functional circuit alterations, a variety of sensory discrimination to social behaviors and their developmental plasticity. Dr. Erzurumlu is a world-renowned leader in development and plasticity of the rodent trigeminal system. His laboratory has been continuously funded by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years.