Oswald Steward, Ph.D.
Reeve-Irvine Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research
Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurobiology & Behavior, and Neurosurgery
University of California, Irvine

Oswald Steward holds the Reeve-Irvine Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and is a Professor in the Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurobiology & Behavior, and Neurosurgery. He is also the Director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UCI. Named for actor Christopher Reeve, the Center was established to study injuries to and diseases of the spinal cord and develop strategies to promote repair and regeneration of nerve cells. Activities undertaken under the center’s auspices will promote the coordination and cooperation of scientists around the world who are seeking a cure for diseases affecting the spinal cord. Prior to July 1999, Steward was the Harrison Foundation Professor of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he was the Founding Chair of the Department of Neuroscience.

The research focuses of Dr. Steward include how nerve cells create and maintain their connections with each other, how these “synapses” are modified after injury, and what genes play a role in nerve cell regeneration, growth, and function. His recent emphasis has been on studying the genes that regulate cellular responses to spinal cord injury and on the mechanisms of a spinal cord wound healing process seen uniquely in mice. Another focus of his research investigates the mechanisms of mRNA sorting and transport in neurons, especially the targeting of mRNA to synaptic sites on dendrites.

Dr. Steward holds federal and private research grants totaling more than $1 million annually and directs a team of more than 30 scientists and research physicians in his laboratory. He is the author of two textbooks (“Principles of Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Neuroscience,” Springer-Verlag, 1989, and “Functional Neuroscience,” Springer-Verlag, 2000), and has written more than 200 research articles and invited reviews.

Other honors and awards of Dr. Steward include the NIH Research Career Development Award (1978-1983); the Jacob Javitts Neuroscience Investigator Award (1987-1994); a Co-Recipient (with E.W. Rubel) for the OASI Institute International Award for Brain Dysfunction Research (1991); and the Endowed Chair of the Harrison Foundation Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (1990-1999).