E. Story Cleland Landis ’67

Alumnae Achievement Awards 2001

Neuroscientist, Professor

E. Story Cleland Landis ’67 is currently the Director of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

After receiving a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1973, Landis conducted research in neuropathology and neurobiology and then taught neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. In 1985, she accepted a tenured position as associate professor in pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In 1988, Landis became a full professor and director of the Center for Neurosciences at CWRU. Landis has been Scientific Director of NINDS since 1995 and manages more than 60 principal investigators and a total staff of about 250.

She is an elected fellow of the Institute of Medicine, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Neurological Association. In 2002, she was elected the President of the Society for Neuroscience and was named Chair of the NIH Stem Cell Task force in 2007. Her research has focused on the development of the cerebellum, and she is currently studying the development of the autonomic nervous system. Her work on neurotransmitter and neuropeptite expression in developing sympathetic neurons is widely cited in the field of neurobiology.