Penn State Hershey names vice chair for research

Penn State Hershey names vice chair for research

Hershey, Pa. -- James R. Connor has been named vice chair for research in the Department of Neurosurgery in the College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

As vice chair for research, Connor will oversee the research mission of the Department of Neurosurgery, which includes nine clinical neurosurgeons, nine postdoctoral fellows, nine residents and three research faculty. Specifically, Connor will mentor junior faculty participating in research; serve as a resource for grant writing; facilitate research collaborations; and continue to strengthen the bridge between Penn State Hershey Medical Center and investigators at Penn State University Park.

Connor, who also is professor of neural and behavioral sciences and pediatrics, served as interim chair of the former Department of Neuroscience and Anatomy in the College of Medicine from 2002 to 2003, and as vice chair of the same department from 1999 to 2002. He is director of the George M. Leader Family Laboratory for Alzheimer’s Disease Research.

Connor began his career in the Penn State College of Medicine in 1987 as assistant professor of anatomy and progressed to professor. He was the first Penn State College of Medicine faculty member to be recognized as both an outstanding junior investigator, receiving the Samuel Hinkle Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 1990, and an accomplished senior investigator, honored as a Dean’s Lecturer in 2003.

Connor’s research program, which has been funded continuously since 1985, currently exceeds $1 million per year. His research program is focused on understanding the mechanisms for regulation of iron in the brain. A pioneer of research on brain iron mismanagement and the role of iron in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease, Connor has been credited with establishing the field of iron neurobiology. Most recently, Connor’s team found that a mutation in a gene called Hfe, that can lead to excess iron accumulation, is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease. Connor also is collaborating on studies to investigate the prevalence of Hfe mutations on Lou Gehrig’s Disease, another neurodegenerative disease.

In addition, Connor is a pioneer in the study of restless legs syndrome, an affliction affecting millions of people that causes an irresistible urge to move the legs often accompanied by creepy-crawly sensations in the legs. The sensations are only relieved by movement, and become worse as the sun goes down causing night after night of sleeplessness. Connor’s team performed the first-ever autopsy analysis of the brains of people with RLS and found that cells in a portion of the mid-brain are not getting enough iron.

In addition to his research, teaching and mentoring, Connor serves on the scientific advisory boards for the Iron Disorders Institute and The Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation. He also is a member of numerous scientific journal editorial boards, and serves on a number of scientific review boards for national organizations and major pharmaceutical companies.