Geert de Vries, Ph.D.
Chair and Regents' Professor Biology, Neuroscience
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Irvine, ’85-’87
- Ph.D., Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, School of Medicine, ’85,
- Doktoraal, Neurobiology / Biochemistry, Free University, Amsterdam, ’80
- Kandidaats, Medical Biology, Free University, Amsterdam, ’76
Specializations
- Neuroendocrinology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Developmental Neurobiology, Microbiota Brain Interactions
Biography
Ever since discovering major sex differences in the vasopressin innervation of the brain as a graduate student, De Vries has studied the development and function of sex differences in the brain. This culminated in him proposing the idea that such differences can cause as well as prevent sex differences in physiology and behavior. At GSU, he is taking full advantage of the multidisciplinary and collaborative culture provided by the Petit Science Center and currently studies interactions between the gut microbiota and the brain. His research has been consistently funded by NSF and NIH.
De Vries joined GSU in 2012, leaving a long-standing position at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass). At UMass, he directed the Center for Neuroendocrine Studies and an NIH-funded Training Program in Neuroendocrinology. He is a founding member and Past President of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences and Past President of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. He served on several scientific NIH and NSF grant review panels, on editorial boards of Endocrinology and Hormones and Behavior, and on the advisory boards of Canada’s Institute of Gender and Health and NIH’s Office on Women’s Health Research. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2022.