Led by Director Dr. Danielle Dick, Greg Brown Endowed Chair and Professor of Psychiatry, the RARC is the largest comprehensive addiction research center in the country with over 150 researchers spanning all three Rutgers campuses, more than 40 departments, and 26 specialty centers. The RARC isn't just a place; it's a community of researchers, clinicians, students, and individuals with lived experience and their family members. Watch the video to learn more. 

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Barker is interested in cutting edge technologies to interrogate neural circuits involved in psychiatric disorders with a goal of better understanding the maladaptive processes that affect the brains of individuals afflicted with drug addiction and comorbid mental disorders.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS)

Core Faculty Member, BHI



Dr. Miriam’s lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand the neural circuitry regulating feeding and motivated behaviors. She is particularly interested in understanding how these mechanisms are affected in disease states, such as obesity.

Professor of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS)

Associate Director, RARC

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Jackson’s research largely centers on the etiology and course of substance use among adolescents and young adults. She is an expert in the application of quantitative methods to the study of health behavior and has been funded by a mid-career award to apply developmental methods to research in substance use.

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS

Core Faculty Member, BHI

The mission of Dr. James’ lab is to better understand the neural basis of psychiatric illnesses and to guide the development of more effective treatments for these devastating conditions. His lab is interested in studying illnesses characterized by aberrant motivation, including substance use disorders, depression, and eating disorders.

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS

Co-Director, Rutgers-Princeton Center for Computational and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry (CCNP)

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Konova's primary research areas of interest are decision neuroscience and computational psychiatry. This work combines fMRI, computational modeling, and patient populations to address questions related to how we construct value and how value is modulated by subjective states and drug addiction.

Professor of Anesthesiology, NJMS

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Pan studies the mechanisms of opioid actions, providing the foundation of developing novel drugs for pain treatment. The goal of his research is to understand the mechanisms and functions of mu opioid receptor gene for developing novel drugs to control pain and substance use disorders.

Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS

Assistant Director for Education and Training, BHI

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Pierce's lab is dedicated to identifying the neuronal substrates underlying cocaine craving and addiction.

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Rabinowitz joined the RARC in the BHI in September, 2023. Her research spans the substance use continuum and ranges from preventing substance use initiation to improving treatment engagement, retention, and care of individuals in recovery from substance use disorders. She also studies the influence of social determinants and individual characteristics on the developmental course of substance use, particularly among diverse populations.

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS

Core Faculty Member, BHI

Dr. Rossi’s lab uses in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, electrophysiology, and genetic methods to probe how distributed brain circuits regulate feeding, motivated behavior, and obesity.

Congratulations to Dr. Anna Konova, on receiving the Neuropsychopharmacology Editor's Early Career Award (NEECA). The Award recognizes the top paper from an early-career researcher, from their own independent lab, published in print in NPP during the previous year. Dr. Konova received the Award for her paper published in Nature Neuropsychopharmacology, “A neuroeconomic signature of opioid craving: How fluctuations in craving bias drug-related and nondrug-related value”.

Dr. D’Adamio, Herbert and Jacqueline Klein Endowed Chair in Alzheimer's Disease and Neurodegeneration Research, Associate Director of BHI for Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurodegeneration Research and Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience at NJMS, has co-founded a start-up company with Dr. Luana Fioriti to develop novel nanobodies-based drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The company recently obtained a $500,000 STTR NIH grant to establish proof-of concept on their patented drugs.

A new paper examining the effect of paternal cocaine on fear memories in rat offspring, “Sex-dependent fear memory impairment in cocaine-sired rat offspring”, was published in Science Advances. Congratulations to Dr. Chris Pierce’s team, Matthew Rich, PhD, Samantha Worobey, BS, Sharvari Mankame, BS, Zhiping Pang, MD, PhD, and Sarah Swinford-Jackson, PhD.

Congratulations to Dr. Philip Parker on publishing a new paper "A dynamic sequence of visual processing initiated by gaze shifts" in Nature Neuroscience. The paper explores dynamic neural responses to gaze shifts in rodent visual cortex, revealing a sequence aligned with spatial frequency bias during active vision in mice and marmosets.

Congratulations to Dr. Linden Parkes, BHI Core Faculty Member and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at RWJMS, on publishing a new paper on arXiv. The paper "Shaping dynamical neural computations using spatiotemporal constraints" shows ideas for bridging artificial and biological computation using RNNs. 

Herbert C. Klein who donated $7.25M to the BHI to establish two endowed chairs and develop the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center died on November 24. He was 93. Mr. Klein, a Rutgers alumnus and former U.S. congressman, made the gifts in memory of his wife, Jacqueline Krieger Klein, who died in 2017 after battling Alzheimer's disease (AD). The generous donation has transformative implications for our ability to find a cure for AD and brings Rutgers to the forefront of AD research.

The newly established Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at BHI will serve as a hub for collaboration, innovation, and transformative research, with the mission of making meaningful strides in the prevention, diagnosis, and care of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD). If you are interested in learning more or collaborating with the center, please submit the form to provide your contact information.

Rutgers Addiction Research Center (RARC) 

The RARC-BHI Pilot Grant Program aims to foster new addiction research and generate pilot data for new grant applications to external agency funding. Pilot grants will be awarded for a one-year period and are limited to no more than $30,000 direct costs. Submit the application, including the Cover page & Check List, to rarc@bhi.rutgers.edu by 5 PM, Monday, December 18, 2023.

BHI Motivational & Affective Neuroscience Focus Area Working Group

The BHI Motivational & Affective Neuroscience Focus Area Working Group announced the 2023-2024 mock grant review program at Rutgers University. The program aims to increase the success of grant proposals submitted to NIH by Rutgers investigators connected to BHI. Intention to submit a proposal for review should be sent in by Monday, December 4, 2023.

Auditory Neuroscience Research Initiative (RANRI)

The BHI and the Dept. of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, RWJMS are recruiting a tenured or tenure track faculty member at the Associate or Full Professor level to expand our research portfolio in auditory neuroscience, broadly defined to include animal- or human subjects-based research programs. The successful candidate must have a PhD, MD, or equivalent doctoral degree as well as a research program with currently active federal funding addressing key questions regarding auditory neuroscience.

Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center

The Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at BHI seeks a neuroimaging leader for a tenure-track position at the Associate or Full Professor level, a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist with clinical experience in caring for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, and a neuropsychologist with a research career devoted to the neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.

Rutgers Addiction Research Center (RARC)

The BHI, RARC, and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Department of Emergency Medicine are recruiting a tenure-track faculty member at the Associate or Assistant Professor level with expertise in addiction, substance use, or overdose. We are particularly interested in candidates with research programs in opioid and/or alcohol addiction.

Rutgers Center for Autism Research, Education and Services (RUCARES)

The BHI, RUCARES, and Department of Pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) are seeking a tenure-track assistant or associate professor for a clinical research program focused on improving interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. 

Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research (CAHBIR)

The CAHBIR is recruiting for multiple faculty positions at all levels (Assistant/Associate/ Professor). We seek investigators who use innovative MRI approaches to image human brain structure and function. Individuals who utilize additional approaches such as EEG, tDCS, and rTMS to study human brain function would also be attractive. 

Dr. Josh Miller’s Lab is recruiting participants 60 years of age and older for a research study on identifying early biomarkers of age-related cognitive decline at Rutgers University. If you are interested in participating, you can complete the eligibility survey. If you have any questions, please contact miller.lab@sebs.rutgers.edu.