Dr. Joan W. Berman is the recipient of the 2012 Women in
Neuroscience Lectureship Award. A true leader in the
neurovirology field, Dr. Berman embodies all of the
characteristics of a great scientist and is a role model for
young investigators. Joan has served as the Chair of the
ISNV Women in NeuroVirology (WIN) Committee for the past
four years working tirelessly to ensure that WIN promotes and
improves communication among female scientists in the ISNV
membership. Beginning at the ISNV conference in Miami in
2009, Joan helped to establish a program through which
junior scientists were teamed up with senior mentors who
would provide advice regarding career issues such as
promotions, negotiation skills and balancing work/home
commitments.
After completing undergraduate studies at Brown
University, Dr. Berman received a Ph.D. from New York
University Medical Center. She completed five years of postdoctoral
training in the Department of Pathology at New York
University Medical Center and joined the faculty at Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in 1986 as an Assistant
Professor. Dr. Berman is currently Professor in the
Departments of Pathology and of Microbiology and
Immunology at Einstein. Included among her many
leadership appointments at Einstein, Dr. Berman serves as
Director of the Experimental Pathology Program, Director of the Immunology and Pathology CFAR Core, Director
of Basic and Translational Research for the Medical
School, and is the Faculty Advisor for the Graduate
Division. She is also an external consultant to NIMH
for CNS HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy Research
(CHARTER) and serves as a member of several NIH
review panels. In keeping with her strong
commitment to promote women in science, Joan is
the Chair for the Women’s Mentoring Program at her
Alma Mater, Brown University.
Research from the Berman laboratory has greatly
enhanced our understanding of many aspects of HIV associated
CNS cellular dysfunction, including bloodbrain
barrier damage, macrophage trafficking and
signaling and interactions of substance abuse with
viral infection. Contributions from her research to the
HIV field have shed light on many mechanisms
through which HIV damages the CNS and have
increased our understanding of host-virus crosstalk at
the blood-brain barrier. Joan is a member of
numerous professional societies and journal editorial boards. She has contributed to eight books and
published over 100 research articles in top journals.
Her research laboratory is supported by grants from
NIMH and NIDA.
Within five minutes of conversation with any of her
lab members, it is evident that Joan cares deeply about
her research family. She has a passion for mentoring
and exudes sincerity for her students’ success. She
is determined and diligent in helping her mentees
achieve success, even if that means staying in the
laboratory until late at night or sacrificing
personal time. She takes interest in every member of
her team, never forgetting their birthdays, and always
making it a point to introduce each of them to senior
scientists at scientific meetings. As is said: “A true
sign of a good human being is not how they treat
people above them, but how they treat people below”.
She lives her life by example.
Over the years Joan has worked tirelessly to
maintain the WIN organization. We are thrilled to
recognize her remarkable achievements as a leading
neurovirologist!
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