Amy Arnsten facts for kids

Amy F.T. Arnsten is an American scientist who studies the brain. She is a professor at Yale University, where she teaches about the brain and how it works. She is also part of the Kavli Institute of Neuroscience.

Understanding the Brain

Professor Arnsten studies how our brains help us think, learn, and remember. This is called cognition. She looks at the tiny parts of the brain and how they work together. Her research helps us understand what happens when these parts don't work correctly, which can lead to thinking problems.

How Stress Affects Our Brains

One important discovery Professor Arnsten made is about how stress affects a part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain helps us with planning, making decisions, and focusing. She found that when people experience a lot of stress they can't control, their prefrontal cortex can go "off-line." This means it doesn't work as well.

Brain Health and Age

Professor Arnsten also studies how stress affects the brain as people get older. She found that problems with how the brain handles stress can make older people more likely to develop conditions like Alzheimer's disease. This disease affects memory and thinking.

New Treatments from Research

Her work has led to important new ways to protect and strengthen the prefrontal cortex. This has helped create two medicines that doctors use today:

• 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 is used to help people who have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD can cause a lot of stress and anxiety.

Her Journey in Science

Amy Arnsten grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. She finished high school in 1972.

College and Beyond

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

Awards and Recognition

Professor Arnsten has received many awards for her important work:

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

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

Featured in a Documentary

In 2019, Professor Arnsten was featured in an HBO documentary called One Nation Under Stress. This film explored how stress affects people in the United States.