Overview
Since 2001, the Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial Fund has endowed the annual Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial Lecture in neuroscience, as well as one or more high school internships or post-baccalaureate fellowships at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
The Fund was established by the family of the late Dr. Newcomb, who before his death in 2000 at the age of 44, was passionately devoted to brain research. He first came to NIH as a junior in high school, and became a protein chemist at the age of 17 under the direction of his mentor, Dr. Claude Klee. Dr. Newcomb received his doctorate from the University of Hawaii and gave up the second year of his Presidential Young Investigator Award to accept his first NIH grant. Dr. Newcomb’s association with NIH continued as he later served on NIH study panels. The Newcomb family established his memorial fund at the FNIH to further Dr. Newcomb’s work on brain research and the chemical basis of stroke and aging at NINDS.
2023 Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial Lectures:
Monday, May 8
Sung-Yon Kim, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University. “Warm and full: neural circuits for behavioral regulation of homeostasis”.
Partners
Public-Sector Partners:
National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Private-Sector Partners:
Family of Robert W. Newcomb*
*Provided financial or in-kind support for this program.
FNIH Contact
For more information, please contact Advancement Officer Laren Friedman at [email protected] or 301-451-8855.
Goals
- • Endow an annual lecture in neuroscience and one or more high school internships or post-baccalaureate fellowships at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
- Further Dr. Newcomb’s work on brain research and the chemical basis of stroke and aging.
Results & Accomplishments
Since 2001, the Newcomb Memorial Fund has endowed 21 lectures and 27 high school internships or post-baccalaureate fellowships at NINDS.
Internship Coordinator and Mentor, 2002-Present
- Susan Wray, Ph.D., Cellular and Developmental Neurobiology Section, NINDS
Interns & Fellows (2002-2023)
- 2021-Present
- Miranda Thompkins, Colgate University (Post-Baccalaureate Fellow)
- 2020
- Andrew Oh, University of Michigan (Post-Baccalaureate Fellow)
- 2019
- Zaria Wilson, Gaithersburg High School
- 2018
- Samantha Naya, Watkins Mill High School
- 2016-2017
- Sarah Reside, Wheaton High School
- 2015-2017
- Leigh Dairaghi, Carleton College (Post-Baccalaureate Fellow)
- 2015-2016
- Jaime Atilano, Seneca Valley High School
- 2014
- Ernest Ekunseitan, Montgomery Blair High School
- 2013
- Ernest Ekunseitan, Montgomery Blair High School
- Eudorah Vital, John F. Kennedy High School
- 2012
- Ebony Argaez, Montgomery Blair High School
- 2011
- Ashmina Shilpakar, Wheaton High School
- Sarah Shangraw, University of Puget Sound (Post-Baccalaureate Fellow)
- 2010
- Marie Hickman, Seneca Valley High School
- Jade Williams, Watkins Mill High School
- 2009
- Khavin Suong, Northwood/Edison High School
- 2008
- Christina Jacob, Paint Brush High School
- Kefre Akpaete, Springbrook High School
- 2007
- Kimeya Ghaderi, Northwood High School
- 2006
- Cina Karodeh, Paint Branch High School
- Stephen Doore, Springbrook High School
- 2005
- Sahan Hapangama, Wheaton High School
- Saidah Adams, Blake High School/Edison High School
- 2004
- Maryan Rabei, Walter Johnson High School
- Andrew Yewdell, John F. Kennedy High School
- 2003
- Thomas LaCastro, Thomas Edison High School of Technology
- 2002
- Christopher Ogata, Wheaton High School
Previous Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial Lectures
- May 2023: Sung-Yon Kim, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University
- April 2022: Gloria Choi, Ph.D., MIT, Picower Institute
- December 2019: Lisa Goodrich, Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
- November 2017: Herwig Baier, Ph.D., Max Planck Professor for Genes Circuits Behavior
- February 2017: Daniel Choquet, Ph.D., Bordeaux University
- March 2016: Erik Jorgensen, Ph.D., University of Utah
- June 2015: Richard H. Kramer, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
- September 2013: David E. Clapham, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School
- December 2012: Ann Marie Craig, Ph.D., University of British Columbia
- April 2011: Craig Jahr, Ph.D., Oregon Health & Science University
- October 2011: Diane Lipscomb, Ph.D., Brown University
- November 2009: Dwight Bergles, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
- December 2008: Roderick MacKinnon, M.D., The Rockefeller University
- March 2008: Roger Nicoll, M.D., University of California, San Francisco
- November 2006: Gary Yellen, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School
- April 2006: Bruce P. Bean, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School
- April 2005: Clay M. Armstrong, M.D., University of Pennsylvania
- April 2004: Richard Aldrich, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
- April 2003: Daniel Johnston, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
- December 2001: Richard Tsien, D. Phil., Stanford University
- May 2001: David Yue, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University