Gregg E. Homanics, PhD, Faculty in the Center for Neuroscience, (CNUP) photographed at the Biomedical Science Tower-3, July 2019

Gregg E. Homanics, PhD is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Homanics received a Bachelor’s degree in Animal and Veterinary Science from West Virginia University in 1984, a Master’s degree in Animal Science from the University of Kentucky in 1987 and a PhD in Animal Science with a minor in Biotechnology from North Carolina State University in 1991. Following completion of his doctorate, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the laboratories of Nobuyo Maeda and Oliver Smithies (Nobel Prize, 2007).

In 1993, he joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. Since 1995, Dr. Homanics has maintained a laboratory that has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health that is focused on understanding the mechanism of action of alcohol. He has published ~170+ peer reviewed publications.

Dr. Homanics has received the University of Pittsburgh Survival Skills and Ethics Distinguished Mentor Award (1999), the Department of Anesthesiology’s Most Productive Scientist Award (2005), a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health (2010-2020), a Medical Student Research Mentoring Merit Award (2016), and a Pitt Innovator Award from the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute (2019).

He is currently Scientific Co-Director of a multi-institution consortium that is focused on causes and treatments for alcohol use disorders (the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism-Neuroimmune). At the University of Pittsburgh, he serves/ has served on numerous committees including the Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Department of Laboratory Animals Operations Advisory Committee, the Tenured and Non-Tenured Faculty Appointments and Promotions Committees, the Pharmacology Graduate Executive Committee, and Anesthesiology’s Scientific Affairs Committee, among others. He has also served/chaired numerous grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Medical Research Council, and others. He also serves as co-leader of the administrative core and leader of the genetic engineering core for the Marmo-AD (Marmoset-Alzheimer’s Disease) Consortium (2022-present), as  an external consultant to the Indiana Alcohol Research Center (Indiana University School of Medicine; 2020-present), as a member of the scientific advisory boards for the Neurobiology of Adolescent Drinking in Adulthood Consortium (NADIA; UNC at Chapel Hill; 2019-present) and the Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics (CARE; University of Illinois, Chicago; 2019-present).  Dr. Homanics also serves/has served on the program committee for the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (co-chair 2016-2017), as a grand awards judge for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (2015), as associate editor for Genes, Brain, and Behavior, as associate editor for Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, as review editor for Frontiers in Neuropharmacology, as Specialty Chief editor for the Methods and Model Organisms section of Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, and he is a member of the editorial board for Alcohol. Dr. Homanics’ recent curriculum vitae can be found here.

In his free time, Dr. Homanics can be found relaxing on his farm baling hay and caring for his cows, sheep, goats, donkey, chickens, guinea hens, and honey bees.  He also enjoys hunting, fishing, ATV riding, golfing, home remodeling and building construction.