Mark H. Ellisman PhD

Dr. Mark H. Ellisman is the Director of NCMIR, and since 1996, Dr. Ellisman has served as the founding director of the UCSD Center for Research in Biological Systems (CRBS). Dr. Ellisman established NCMIR in 1988 to achieve a greater understanding of the structure and function of the nervous system by developing 3D light and electron microscopy methods. As a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Dr. Ellisman has received numerous awards including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigatory Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

After earning a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Dr. Ellisman began his tenure as a professor of neurosciences and bioengineering at UCSD in 1977. Since then, he has received several teaching awards, including the Department of Neurosciences Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1987 and 1992, and was named the University Lecturer in Biomedicine in 2001. He is also the interdisciplinary coordinator for the National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (NPACI) and leads NPACI’s Neuroscience thrust, which involves the integration of brain research and advanced computing and communications technologies. In 2002, Dr. Ellisman was appointed to the National Advisory Council of the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and to the Physics Division Review Committee of the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory.