Dear colleagues,

Jonathan Godbout, PhD, has been named interim faculty lead of the Chronic Brain Injury (CBI) program, a focus area of the $500 million Discovery Themes initiative created by Ohio State to address global challenges.

Dr. Godbout begins his role June 1. A professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair, he also serves as assistant director for basic science in the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and co-director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program.

Dr. Godbout earned his PhD in biochemistry and completed postdoctoral training in aging and neuroimmunology, both at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. His primary research activities in neuroimmunology and neurotrauma focus on the degree to which the bi-directional communication between the brain and immune system is affected by age, psychological stress, and traumatic brain injury.

He will work closely with Karla Zadnik, who serves as executive dean for the health sciences, the dean of the College of Optometry, and the lead dean for CBI; and Kedar Hiremath, the CBI program manager.

CBI bridges basic and clinical research in traumatic brain injury, neurodegeneration, and related diseases across eight colleges and 37 departments and reflects the university's investment in transformational approaches to better prevent, detect, and treat brain injury and its chronic effects.

Dr. Godbout is an exceptional scientist who has shown leadership and possesses an innovational spirit, and I am confident he will further the CBI program's progress.

Sincerely,

Randy Moses
Interim Senior Vice President for Research