Tallie Z. Baram

Tallie Z. Baram, MD, PhD is a Professor of Pediatrics, Anatomy/Neurobiology, Neurology and Physiology/Biophysics at the University of California-Irvine, and the Danette Shepard Professor of Neurological Sciences. Baram is a child neurologist and developmental neuroscientist and who has been focusing her efforts on programming the developing brain as a result of early-life experiences. Baram’s group has studied this broad topic in two contexts: a. how early-life experiences including stress and maternal care influence resilience and vulnerability to cognitive and emotional disorders; b. how early life seizures, especially those associated with fever, can convert a normal brain into an epileptic one. Using rodent models and cutting-edge molecular, cellular epigenetic and imaging methods, Baram’s group has made enormous contributions to our understanding of the effects of early-life experience on normal brain function and the contributions of early-life adversity and seizures to neuropsychiatric disorders. Baram’s discoveries have been translational, providing the foundation of an FDA-approved therapy and of novel clinical imaging approaches.

Baram’s research contributions have been recognized by prestigious awards including the NIH NINDS Javits Merit Award, AES Basic Science Research Award, and the CNS Sachs Award, and she has chaired the NIH Developmental Brain Disorders study section. Baram has had a long commitment to mentoring. She is PI of one of two NIH funded T32s focused on epilepsy, and is mentor of several currently funded K awards. Baram’s numerous students from diverse backgrounds are now contributing independently to Neuroscience research.