John Morrison, an authority on the neurobiology of aging from New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been named as the new director of the California Regional Primate Research Center at UC Davis.

Morrison's appointment is effective July 1, 2002, and during the coming months he will assist in planning center projects and programs. His appointment will be held jointly within the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and School of Medicine.

"Dr. Morrison brings outstanding leadership to the position of primate center director," said Bennie Osburn, dean of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "We are looking forward to the infusion of his vision and enthusiasm into new and expanded biomedical research programs of great importance to human health."

"As our new primate center director, he will be able to nourish new research programs related to the aging mind," added Joseph Silva, dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine.

"Dr. Morrison's studies involve deteriorating processes, such as Alzheimer's disease. His location in our primate center allows for a coordination among a number of colleges, schools and divisions with interests in primate biology and animal models of human disease."

Morrison currently is the director of the Center for Neurobiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, New York. He studies how brain functions, neurons and synapses are affected by aging and neurodegenerative diseases. He is particularly interested in how the brain's circuits are disrupted in Alzheimer's disease and how these changes differ from those that lead to memory decline in the normal aging process. Recently he has been exploring the role of estrogen in memory function.

He has spent much of his career in Southern California, working at the Salk Insitute and Scripps Clinic, both located in La Jolla. In 1989, he joined the faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He earned his doctorate in neurobiology in 1979 from Johns Hopkins University.

"The Primate Research Centers play a critical role in bringing basic biological investigation to bear on human disease," said Morrison. "The California Regional Primate Research Center is uniquely well- positioned for such programs, given the breadth of strength across all areas of biology at UC Davis.

"I am particularly excited about the opportunity to launch a new program in Neurobiology of Aging and Neural Repair, which will build further upon the existing strong translational research programs at the primate center," he added.

"Such a program can only be built through collaborative research across the center, the School of Veterinary Medicine and all other biologically oriented schools and divisions at UC Davis. Given the extraordinary at-mosphere of collegiality and collaboration that pervades this campus, I am certain that such large-scale scientific efforts will be successful, and I look forward to participating in the growth and development of several such programs."

The California Regional Primate Research Center is part of a national network of eight centers that provide specialized facilities for biomedical research on nonhuman primates that is important for developing a better understanding of human-health problems.

Research at the UC Davis center focuses on a wide array of problems, including AIDS and other infectious diseases, reproductive and fetal health, neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, nutritional deficiencies, asthma, drug addiction, biological stress and cognitive development.

The center is currently home to 3,800 nonhuman primates, mostly rhesus macaques as well as some long-tailed macaques and titi monkeys. Plans are under way to expand the center so that it can accommodate approximately 5,000 animals.