Amy Arnsten facts for kids

Amy F.T. Arnsten is an American brain scientist, also known as a neuroscientist. She works as a professor at Yale University. She is part of the Kavli Institute of Neuroscience at Yale, where she studies how our brains work.

Understanding the Brain: Amy Arnsten's Research

Amy Arnsten studies how the most advanced parts of our brain work. These parts help us with things like thinking, learning, and remembering. This is called cognition. She looks at the special ways brain cells communicate to make these processes happen.

How Stress Affects Your Brain

Dr. Arnsten discovered how extreme stress can make a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex "go offline." The prefrontal cortex is like the brain's control center. It helps you make decisions and focus. When it goes "offline," it's harder to think clearly.

Brain Health and Aging

Her research also shows how stress can affect the brain as people get older. This can make the brain more likely to develop problems like tau pathology. This is a type of damage seen in diseases like Alzheimer's disease, which affects memory and thinking.

New Treatments from Her Discoveries

Dr. Arnsten's work has led to important new medicines. These medicines help protect and strengthen the prefrontal cortex. Two treatments are now used in hospitals and clinics:

• Guanfacine: This medicine helps people with conditions like ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) and autism. These conditions can affect how the prefrontal cortex works.
• Prazosin: This medicine helps treat PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD can cause intense stress responses.

Amy Arnsten's Journey in Science

Amy Arnsten grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. She finished high school at Columbia High School in 1972.

College and Beyond

She went to Brown University and earned a bachelor's degree in neuroscience in 1976. She was the first student there to create a major specifically in neuroscience! Later, she earned her PhD in neuroscience from UC San Diego in 1981. After that, she did more advanced research at Cambridge University in England and then at Yale University.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Arnsten has received many awards for her important work.

Major Awards

• In 2008, she received the Distinguished Investigator Award. This award helped her continue her research on mental health.
• In 2013, she won the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award. This award recognizes scientists who do very new and important research.
• In 2015, she received the Goldman-Rakic Prize. This award celebrates great achievements in understanding how our brains think.

National Recognition

In 2017, Amy Arnsten was chosen to be a member of the National Institute of Medicine. This is a very high honor for scientists in health and medicine.

Featured in a Documentary

In 2019, Dr. Arnsten was featured in an HBO documentary. It was called One Nation Under Stress. The film explored how stress affects people and society.