A message from the BEHN Chair

Welcome to the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience. We are committed to maintaining and enhancing excellence in research and education on the neurobiology of addiction, other mental health disorders, and cognition. We strive for an inclusive and accountable research and learning environment that best serves the people of Oregon and beyond. Ours is one of few Behavioral Neuroscience departments in the country and our focus on the neuroscience of healthy and dysregulated behavior is a unique aspect of our research mission.  

Our specific goals reflect a long-standing commitment to the following missions: (a) conducting high-quality research that enhances our understanding of brain-behavior relationships and improves human health and well-being; (b) educating the next generation of behavioral and systems neuroscientists and physician scientists; and (c) providing community service that informs the public about brain-behavior relationships. Research conducted by our faculty and trainees uses a wide range of techniques and cuts across several neurodevelopmental stages, as well as levels of analysis that range from the study of molecular processes to the study of complex behavior. Emphasis is placed on understanding the independent and interacting roles of genetic regulation, neural circuits, and environmental factors in determining behavior, with the long-term goal of creating new knowledge that will aid in the prevention, detection and treatment of disorders and diseases of the nervous system impacting motivation, mood and cognition.

Our mission is strengthened by collaborations across our campus and other institutions. Our faculty are leaders in their fields with broad collective knowledge. We train our graduate students in the Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience graduate program and our Postdoctoral Scholars to perform cutting-edge research, communicate their findings to the scientific and lay communities and relate their findings to real world problems. 

As department chair, I am proud that our research has made significant contributions to the understanding of genetic and epigenetic factors and brain mechanisms impacting addiction, disorders of memory and cognition, and other neuropsychiatric conditions. 

Tamara J. Phillips, Ph.D.
Chair and Ruth G. Matarazzo Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience