Distinguished Alumni Award

Gary Dunbar '76 received a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Biopsychology from Eckerd College. He received an M.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Biology from Central Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in Psychobiology (Behavioral Neuroscience) from Clark University. He is currently the John G. Kulhavi Professor of Neuroscience and is Director of the Neuroscience Program and Brain Research and Integrative Neuroscience (BRAIN) Center. Dr. Dunbar is a member and a past President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience for the Michigan Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. He was named Michigan Professor of the Year in 1997. He currently serves as the Scientific Advisor for the Michigan Chapter of the Huntington's Diseases Society of America, as Senior Editor of the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, and as President of the American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair.

Dr. Dunbar helped start the neuroscience program at CMU in 1987 as a small retrofitted storage room for a lab in Rowe Hall. He built the program from donations, grants, and contracts and with a lot of elbow grease—refurbishing discarded equipment from Dow and other places. Over the years, the program grew in size and stature and CMU became the first university in the state of Michigan to offer a B.S. degree in neuroscience. In 2006, the program was given space in the Health Professions Building and developed a long-lasting partnership with the Field Neurosciences Institute in Saginaw.  This allowed CMU to develop a state of the art facility, the BRAIN (Brain Research and Integrative Neuroscience) Center that now houses labs and core facilities for 10 neuroscience faculty and over 300 neuroscience majors. In 2008, Dr. Dunbar added an M.S. and Ph.D. program in neuroscience, and in 2013, the undergraduate program was ranked the top program in the nation. Most significantly, this means that CMU is playing an important role in providing answers to the millions of people affected by CNS trauma and disease.

Dr. Dunbar's teaching and research interests are in the area of behavioral neuroscience. His recent research is focused on the using transplants of genetically altered stem cells, dietary supplements, and pharmacological treatments for cognitive/or motor deficits following brain damage, spinal cord injury, glioblastoma, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's diseases. His research has been supported by grants and contracts from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, and several pharmaceutical companies and foundations, especially the Field Neurosciences Institute, for which he serves as Executive Director.

Gary is known for his friendly and approachable demeanor and his commitment to students many of whom now hold impressive and influential positions at universities and research facilities around the United States.