Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD

Chief Vision and Values Scientist
A. Eugene and Marie Washington Presidential Distinguished Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Departments of Neurobiology, Bioengineering, and Neurosurgery
Duke University

Office: (919) 681-7371
kafui.dzirasa@duke.edu

PubMed / CV

Dr. Kafui Dzirasa is the first African American to complete a PhD in Neurobiology at Duke University. His research interests focus on understanding how changes in the brain produce neurological and mental illness. Kafui obtained an MD from the Duke University School of Medicine in 2009 and completed residency training in General Psychiatry in 2016. Kafui was featured on CBS 60 Minutes and has been awarded the One Mind Rising Star Award and the Sydney Baer Prize for Schizophrenia Research. In 2017, he was recognized as 40 under 40 in Health by the National Minority Quality Forum, and the Engineering Alumni of the Year from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  

Kafui was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE): the nation’s highest award for scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. He has also been recognized with the Alan Leshner Public Engagement Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award. He has served on the Editorial Advisory Board for TEDMED and currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director. Kafui is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator.

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Positions & Education

Duke University Hospital
Durham, NC (2010-2016)
Residency, General Psychiatry

Duke University School of Medicine
Durham, NC (2001-2009)
Doctor of Medicine
Medical Scientist Training Program

Duke University
Durham, NC (2007-2009)
Postdoctoral Research
Advisor: Miguel Nicolelis

Duke University Graduate School
Durham NC (2003-2007)
Doctor of Philosophy in Neurobiology
Thesis: Electrophysiological Correlates of Neurological and Psychiatric Disease
Advisor: Miguel Nicolelis

University of Maryland Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD (1996-2001)
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Magna cum laude
Meyerhoff Scholar

Honors & Awards

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
2021

Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award Laureate
2021

Elected to the National Academy of Medicine
2021

  • Duke University Presidential Award for Distinguished Service – (2021)

  • Duke Medical School Ruth and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Faculty Research Prize – (2021)

  • Duke Medical School Early Career Mentoring Award in Basic – Translational Science – (2020)

  • Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award – (2019)

  • Duke University Graduate School Few-Glasson Alumni Society – (2019)

  • American Society for Clinical Investigation – (2019)

  • AAAS Alan Leshner Public Engagement Fellowship – (2019)

  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers MAC Eminent Engineer Award – (2018)

  • Engineering Alumni of the Year, UMBC – (2017)

  • NMQF 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health – (2017)

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers – (2016)

  • Awarded NIH Clinical Lasker Fellowship (declined) – (2016)

  • Duke Medicine Alumni Emerging Leader Award – (2016)

  • Robert J. Lefkowitz Society for Physician Scientists – (2014)

  • Appleseed Resident Teaching Award – (2014)

  • Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Prize for Schizophrenia Research – (2013)

  • National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award – (2013)

  • One Mind Institute Rising Star Translational Research Award – (2013)

  • Duke Institute of Brain Sciences Research Incubator Award – (2013)

  • TheGrio’s 100 Award: Making History Today – (2013)

  • American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Travel Award – (2011)

  • NIMH Brain Camp Travel Award – (2009)

  • UNCF Merck Postdoctoral Science Research Fellow – (2008)

  • Days of Molecular Medicine Travel Award – (2008)

  • Young Leaders of the Future, EBONY magazine – (February 2008)

  • Somjen Award for Most Outstanding Dissertation Thesis – (2007)

  • Charles Johnson Leadership Award – (2007)

  • Minority Trainee Research Forum Travel Award – (2006)

  • Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Fellow – (2006-2007)

  • Awarded American Psychological Association DPN Fellowship – (2006)

  • UNCF Merck Graduate Science Research Fellow – (2006-2007)

  • Wakeman Fellow – (2003-2005)

  • Medical Scientist Training Program – (2001-2003)

  • United States Achievement Academy Academic All-American Scholar – (1999)

  • CoSIDA Academic All-American Scholar – (1999)

  • Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges – (1999)

  • National Collegiate Minority Leadership Award – (1999)

  • Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholarship Award – (1999)

  • UMBC Community Service and Leadership Award – (1999)

  • Northeast Conference Academic Honor Roll – (1998-1999)

  • Dean’s List – (1997-2000)

  • Meyerhoff Scholarship recipient – (1996-2001)

Interests:

Changing the world

Invited Presentations

  • Invited Presenter
    BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group

    Invited Panelist
    Bio-, Nano- and Converging Technologies (BNCT), OECD Virtual Workshop

    Invited Speaker
    Salk Institute, San Diego, CA

    Invited Presenter
    USA Science and Engineering Festival, X-STEM All Access

    Invited Presenter
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Simons Center for the Social Brain Colloquium Series, Cambridge, MA

    Invited Panelist
    AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting

    Invited Presenter
    National Institute of Mental Health Annual Scientific Retreat

    Invited Panelist
    Workshop on Evolving the Culture of Science and Training, National Academies, Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    Princeton University, Department of Neuroscience, Trenton, NJ

    Invited Speaker
    Capital Global, Inc., Worldwide Seminar, Los Angeles, CA

    Invited Panelist
    National Institute of Drug Abuse Symposium on Ethnic/Racial Disparities, Baltimore, MD

    Invited Keynote
    Diverse Brains Forum, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

    Invited Keynote
    Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

    Invited Presenter
    National Academy of Medicine Workshop: Evolving the Culture of Science and Training in Neuroscience to Meet a Changing World, Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    Research!America Alliance Member Meeting

    Invited Panelist
    Yale Law School, New Haven, CT

    Invited Presenter
    Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT

    Grand Rounds Speaker
    New York University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY

    Invited Presenter
    New York University, Neuroscience Institute, New York, NY

    Invited Keynote
    Yale Intersections Science Fellow Symposium, New Haven, CT

  • Invited Speaker
    National Institute of Drug Abuse, Baltimore, MD

    Invited Panelist
    Milken Future of Health Summit, Washington, DC

    Invited Presenter
    National Academy of Medicine, Mentoring Panel, Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Neuroscience, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

    Invited Presenter
    National Academy of Engineering Business Meeting, Washington, DC

    Invited Panelist
    Research!America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    Medical Scientist Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, NY, NY

    Invited Presenter
    Association of Science and Technology Center’s New Frontiers Conference

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

    Invited Speaker
    Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, MIT, Cambridge, MA

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

    Co-host
    TEDMED 2020

  • Invited Keynote Speaker
    NeurIPS, Vancouver, Canada

    Keynote Speaker – Healthy Churches 2020 Conference, Charlotte, NC
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker and Panelist
    Cell Press-Beijing Conference: AI and the Brain, Beijing, China

    Invited Panelist
    Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Durham, NC

    Invited Speaker
    Harvard University, Department of Neuroscience, Boston, MA

    Invited Lecturer
    Advanced Neuroscience Courses, Molecular Basis of Resilience to Depression, Venice, Italy

    Invited Speaker
    Gordon Research Conference, Amygdala Function in Emotion, Cognition and Disease

    Keynote Speaker
    Ohio State Medical Scientist Training Program Retreat, Columbus, OH

    Invited Speaker
    Federation of European Neuroscience Society Regional Meeting, Belgrade, Serbia

    Invited Speaker
    American Physician Scientist Association Meeting, Durham, DC

    Invited Speaker
    Aspen Institute, Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    American Academy of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA

    Invited Speaker
    Milken Global Conference, Los Angeles, CA

    Invited Speaker
    Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

    Panelist
    National Minority Quality Forum Annual Summit

    Grand Rounds Speaker
    University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychiatry, Philadelphia, PA

    Invited Speaker
    NIH, Neuroscience Series Seminar, Bethesda, MD

    Invited Speaker
    Einstein College of Medicine, Translational Medicine Lecture Series, Bronx, NY

    Invited Keynote
    USA Science and Engineering Festival, X-STEM, Washington, DC.
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker
    UT Southwestern School of Medicine, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Dallas, TX

    Invited Speaker
    Goldman Sachs, World Wide Partners Meeting, NY, NY

  • Honors Lecture
    NYU School of Medicine, NY, NY

    Keynote Speaker
    Annual Biomedical Research Conference Minority Students (ABRCMS)

    Opening Host
    TEDMED 2018

    Invited Speaker
    Brown University, Department of Neuroscience, Providence, RI

    Invited Speaker
    McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA

    Invited Speaker
    Columbia University, Zuckerman Institute, New York, NY

    Distinguished Speaker
    University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology, Los Angeles, CA

    Keynote Panelist
    Friedman Dialogues, Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Meeting, Hartford, CT

    Distinguished Grand Rounds Speaker
    University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Minneapolis, MN

    Invited Speaker
    Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Department of Neuroscience, NY, NY

    Invited Speaker
    Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA

    Invited Speaker
    Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai School, Department of Neuroscience, NY, NY

    Presidential Plenary Speaker
    Society of Biological Psychiatry Annual Meeting, NY, NY

    Grand Rounds Speaker
    University of Buffalo MD, Department of Psychiatry, Buffalo, NY

    Keynote Speaker
    NAMI Buffalo and Erie County Annual Awards Dinner, Buffalo, NY

    Moderator and Panelist
    National Minority Quality Forum Annual Summit

    Invited Presenter
    NIMH Brain Camp

    Invited Speaker
    Culture Shift Labs Annual summit, Menlo Park, CA

    Keynote Speaker
    Medical Scientist Training Program Annual Symposium, University of Rochester

    Invited Panelist
    Research!America, Annual Meeting. Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Medicine, Cardiac Electrophysiology

    Invited Speaker
    Transparency, Recognition, and Innovation in Peer Review in the Life Sciences, ASAPbio, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Wellcome

  • Invited Speaker
    North Carolina School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences

    Invited Speaker
    University of California San Francisco, Department of Neuroscience

    Co-host
    TEDMED 2017

    Invited Plenary Speaker
    National Academy of Medicine, Annual Meeting. Washington, DC

    Invited Speaker
    University of Maryland Baltimore County, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

    Invited Speaker
    University of Texas San Antonio, Medical Scientist Training Program

    Invited Speaker
    University of Maryland at Baltimore, Medical Scientist Training Program

    Keynote Speaker
    Gateways to the Lab TRI-Intuition research program, Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering

    Invited Speaker
    AAMC MD-PhD Section Professional Development Meeting

    Invited Speaker
    Aspen Brain Lab, Aspen, Colorado

    Invited Speaker
    Partnering for Cures, Milken Institute

    Invited Speaker
    Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen, Colorado

    Invited Speaker
    University of Virginia MSTP Program

    Keynote Speaker
    University of North Carolina, Pierre Morrell UNC Neuroscience Retreat

    Invited Speaker
    Hunter College and Weill Cornell Medical College, Clinical Translation Science Center (CTSC) science symposium: Stress and Resilience

    Invited Speaker
    AMA Inspiration in Medicine, Chicago Illinois

    Invited Speaker
    University of Chicago, Northwestern, and University of Illinois Chicago MSTP programs

    Keynote Speaker
    American Physician Scientist Association Annual Meeting

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Neuroscience, University of Colorado Anschultz

  • Invited Participant
    21st Century Cures Act Bill Signing

    Invited Speaker
    TEDMED 2016
    WATCH

    Invited Panelist
    White House Frontiers Conference Panel with President Barack H. Obama
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins

    Invited Panelist
    Partnering for Cures Big Data Panel with NIH and FDA Directors, Milken Institute
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine

    Invited Speaker
    Molecular Psychiatry Annual Meeting

    Invited Speaker
    MTSP Retreat, Duke University Medical Center

    Invited Speaker
    National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

    Invited Speaker
    Department of Psychiatry, UCSD

    Invited Speaker
    Gordon Research Conference, Optogenetics

    Grand Rounds
    Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University Medical Center. Durham, NC

    Contributing Scientist
    PBS Documentary, Ride the Tiger
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker
    Brown Institute of Brain Science, Brown University

    Invited Speaker
    Sackler Institute, Weill Medical College

  • Invited Speaker
    Molecular Psychiatry Annual Meeting

    Invited Speaker
    Gordon Research Conference, Amygdala in Health and Disease

    Invited Speaker
    NYU Lagone School of Medicine

  • Invited Presenter
    American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting

    Fox 8 News
    WATCH

    Presidential Symposium
    Association of Psychological Science Annual Meeting
    WATCH

    Invited Speaker
    One Mind for Research

    Invited Speaker
    Iowa Governor’s Conference on Substance Abuse

    Research Seminar
    Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience

  • Invited Speaker
    Partnering for Cures, Milken Institute

    Symposium Presentation
    Society for Neuroscience

    Invited Speaker
    National Center for Responsible Gambling Annual Meeting

    Invited Presenter
    Wiring the Brain, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

    Invited Presenter
    The Alliance, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD

    Invited Speaker
    Brain Camp, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD

  • Invited Speaker
    Celebration of Science, Milken Institute/NIH, Bethesda, MD.

    Research Seminar
    J. Craig Venture Institute, Rockville, MD

    Research Seminar
    Emory University, Department of Psychiatry, Atlanta, GA

    Research Seminar
    University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA

    Research Seminar
    Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience, New York, NY

  • Contributor
    CBS 60 Minutes

    Invited Speaker
    Association of Research in Nervous and Mental Disorders (ARNMD)

    Invited Speaker
    Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students

    Invited Speaker
    University of Pennsylvania Department of Neuroscience

    Research Seminar
    National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Baltimore, MD

  • Grand Rounds
    Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University Medical Center. Durham, NC (2010)

    Research Presentation
    Merck. West Point, PA (2009)

    Research Presentation
    Merck. West Point, PA (2007)

    Grand Rounds
    John Umpstead Hospital. Butner, NC (2006)

  • K. Dzirasa, S. H. Lisanby. “How does DBS work?” Biological Psychiatry, 2012. 72(11):892-4.

    J.A. Gordon, K¬. Dzirasa, “Animal models of psychiatric disorders.” Neuroscience. 2016 May 3;321:1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.02.004.

    K. Dzirasa. “The neural substrates of a super memory.” Science Translational Medicine, Mar 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 383, eaan0770. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan0770

    K. Dzirasa. “Working memory: The real VIP.” Science Translational Medicine, May 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 389, eaan3779. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan3779

    K. Dzirasa. “When they go low, we go high.” Science Translational Medicine, Jun 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 395, eaan6193. DIO: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan6193

    K. Dzirasa. “A brilliant approach to study the basis of intelligence?” Science Translational Medicine, Aug 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 401, eaao0978. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aao0978

    K. Dzirasa. “In the mood for food.” Science Translational Medicine, Sep 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 407, eaao6124. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aao6124

    K. Dzirasa. “The new stars of synaptic regulation.” Science Translational Medicine, Oct 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 413, eaap8174. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aap8174

    K. Dzirasa. “Brain leak, mind bleak.” Science Translational Medicine, Dec 2017: Vol. 9, Issue 419, eaar4429. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aar4429

    K. Dzirasa. “Neuronal supression causing depression?” Science Translational Medicine, Jan 2018: Vol. 10, Issue 425, eaar7520. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aar7520

  • K. Dzirasa. “A New Approach to Treat Mental Illness: Electrical Engineering.” WIRED. Jun 28, 2019.

    K. Dzirasa “COVID-19 is threat to our biomedical research enterprise.” The Hill. May 14, 2020.

    K. Dzirasa, “For Black Scientists, the Sorrow Is Also Personal.” Cell (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.028

    D. R. Weinberger, K. Dzirasa, L. L. Crumpton-Young, “Missing in action: African ancestry brain research.” Neuron (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.07.008

    K. Dzirasa, “Inclusion is our roadmap back to global science dominance.” The Hill. July 26, 2020

    K. Dzirasa, C. D. Lynn, J. K. Montclare, L. Stirling and B. Wuest. “We Must Change How We Fund Graduate School.” Inside Higher Ed, September 1, 2020

    K. Dzirasa. “Revising the a Priori Hypothesis: Systemic Racism Has Penetrated Scientific Funding.” Cell (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.026

    S. Tilghman, B. Alberts, D. Colón-Ramos, Kafui Dzirasa, Judith Kimble, Harold Varmus. "Concrete steps to diversify the scientific workforce." Science (2021), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf9679

  • Dzirasa K. Chronic recordings in transgenic mice. In: Methods for Neural Ensemble Recordings, 2nd Edition. Chapter 5. M. Nicolelis (editor), CRC press, 2008. Boca Raton, FL.

    Bowman, R., Schwennesen, H., Dzirasa, K., and Hultman, R. In Vivo Circuit Analysis. Chapter 7, Charney & Nestler’s Neurobiology of Mental Illness 5th edition, Oxford press, 87-94, 2018.

  • National Institutes of Health, Advisory Committee to the NIH Director

    Research!America, Board of Directors (2021)

    Grass Foundation, Board of Trustees (2021)

    One Mind, Scientific Advisory Board (2020)

    BRAIN Initiative, Multi Council Workgroup (2020)

    National Academy Report, Reviewer: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education: Supporting the Whole Student (2020)

    Federal BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group (2020)

    NFL Players Association Mackey-White Health and Safety Committee (2019)

    NIH Director’s Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee (2019)

    BRAIN 2.0 Advisory Committee to the NIH Director Working Group (2018-2019)

    Rescuing Biomedical Research, Steering Committee (2018)

    Duke Institutes for Brain Sciences, Faculty Governance Committee (2017-2019)

    Editorial Advisory Board, TEDMED (2017-2020)

    Associate Dean for Admissions Search Committee, Chair. Duke University School of Medicine (2017-2018)

    Associate Scientific Advisor, Science Translational Medicine (2017-2018)

    Next Generation Research Initiative Committee. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2016-2018)

    NIH Physician Scientist Workforce Workshop (2016)

    Primary Undergraduate Instructor. Fall Semester Neuro 211: Brain and Behavior (2015)

    Research Domain Criteria (RDoC): Arousal/Modulatory Systems Working Group (2012)