Kafui Dzirasa

K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Associate Professor

Appointments and Affiliations

• K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Associate Professor
• Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
• Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Associate Professor in Neurobiology
• Associate Professor in Neurosurgery
• Investigator in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Contact Information

• Office Location: Bryan Research Bldg, Room 361, Durham, NC 27710
• Office Phone: (919) 681-7371
• Email Address: kafui.dzirasa@duke.edu
• Websites:

Education

• Duke University School of Medicine, 2016
• M.D. Duke University School of Medicine, 2009
• Ph.D. Duke University, 2007

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Elected Member. National Academy of Medicine. 2021
• HHMI Investigator. Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 2021

Courses Taught

• NEUROBIO 393: Research Independent Study
• NEUROBIO 793: Research in Neurobiology
• NEUROSCI 493: Research Independent Study 1
• NEUROSCI 494: Research Independent Study 2

In the News

• Dzirasa Elected Member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (Mar 29, 2023 | Duke Today)
• Two Duke Faculty Have Won the NIH’s Prestigious Pioneer Award (Oct 3, 2022)
• Duke Scientists Find Brain Network That Makes Mice Mingle (Mar 15, 2022)
• Kafui Dzirasa Elected to National Academy of Medicine (Oct 19, 2021 | School of Medicine)
• Two Duke Brain Scientists Named Howard Hughes Investigators (Sep 17, 2021)
• A Call for Action on Structural Racism in Scientific Funding (Oct 30, 2020 | School of Medicine)
• For Black Scientists, the Sorrow Is Also Personal (Jul 21, 2020)
• Dr. Kafui Dzirasa: For Black Scientists, the Sorrow Is Also Personal (Jul 21, 2020)
• Graduate School Inducts Three into Outstanding Alumni Society (Aug 30, 2019 | Graduate School)
• General Anesthesia Hijacks Sleep Circuitry to Knock You Out (Apr 18, 2019)
• Dzirasa and Cook Named to American Society for Clinical Investigation (Dec 14, 2018)
• Building a Better Brain (Aug 6, 2018 | Duke Medicine Alumni Magazine)
• Networks of Brain Activity Predict Vulnerability to Depression (Mar 1, 2018 | Duke University)
• Chatter in the Deep Brain Spurs Empathy in Rats (Jun 23, 2017)
• Inspiring the Young African-American Physician-Scientist (Feb 15, 2017)
• Dr. Kafui Dzirasa Discusses the Next Big Idea in Brain Research (Oct 18, 2016)
• Duke Brain Researchers Receive Award From Keck Foundation (Aug 9, 2016)
• Control Of A Timekeeping Circuit In The Brain Alters Mood (Jun 23, 2016)
• Neuroscientist Kafui Dzirasa Honored at White House (May 9, 2016)
• Dr. Kafui Dzirasa: A look at mania (Apr 14, 2016 | PBS “Ride the Tiger” documentary)
• Neuroscientist Kafui Dzirasa Earns Presidential Early Career Award (Feb 19, 2016)
• Allen Song Named Interim Director of Brain Institute (Jun 26, 2015)
• New study identifies why some deal with stress better (Jul 30, 2014 | USA Today)
• A New Brain-Based Marker of Stress Susceptibility (Jul 29, 2014)

Representative Publications

• Nguyen, M; Chaudhry, SI; Desai, MM; Dzirasa, K; Cavazos, JE; Boatright, D, Gender, Racial, and Ethnic and Inequities in Receipt of Multiple National Institutes of Health Research Project Grants., Jama Network Open, vol 6 no. 2 (2023) [10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.0855] [abs].
• Locklear, T; Lewis, R; Calhoun, F; Li, A; Dickerson, KC; McMillan, A; Davis, L; Dzirasa, K; Weinfurt, KP; Grambow, SC, Advancing workforce diversity by leveraging the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program., Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, vol 7 no. 1 (2023) [10.1017/cts.2022.489] [abs].
• Block, CL; Eroglu, O; Mague, SD; Smith, CJ; Ceasrine, AM; Sriworarat, C; Blount, C; Beben, KA; Malacon, KE; Ndubuizu, N; Talbot, A; Gallagher, NM; Chan Jo, Y; Nyangacha, T; Carlson, DE; Dzirasa, K; Eroglu, C; Bilbo, SD, Prenatal environmental stressors impair postnatal microglia function and adult behavior in males., Cell Reports, vol 40 no. 5 (2022) [10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111161] [abs].
• Caron, KM; Dzirasa, K, Marc G. Caron (1946-2022)., Neuron, vol 110 no. 13 (2022), pp. 2050-2051 [10.1016/j.neuron.2022.06.012] [abs].
• Mague, SD; Talbot, A; Blount, C; Walder-Christensen, KK; Duffney, LJ; Adamson, E; Bey, AL; Ndubuizu, N; Thomas, GE; Hughes, DN; Grossman, Y; Hultman, R; Sinha, S; Fink, AM; Gallagher, NM; Fisher, RL; Jiang, Y-H; Carlson, DE; Dzirasa, K, Brain-wide electrical dynamics encode individual appetitive social behavior., Neuron, vol 110 no. 10 (2022), pp. 1728-1741.e7 [10.1016/j.neuron.2022.02.016] [abs].