Board of Regents Approve Appointment of Grover E. Murray Professor

TTUHSC Professor Receives Highest Faculty Honor

• By Suzanna Cisneros
• August 9, 2024
• Education

The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents today (Aug. 8) approved the appointment of Volker Neugebauer, M.D., Ph.D., from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine, as a Grover E. Murray Professor.

The Grover E. Murray Professorship is named in honor of the eighth president of Texas Tech University and is intended for faculty members who have attained national and international distinction in their fields for outstanding research, excellence in scholarship and creative achievement. Texas Tech University System Chancellor Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D., said Neugebauer exemplifies all of these criteria.

“I first met Dr. Neugebauer when he joined the TTUHSC faculty during my tenure as president. From the start, he has been a tremendous servant leader and team player,” Mitchell said. “Throughout the years, people have looked to him for his knowledge, guidance and expertise in higher education, research and health care. On behalf of the entire Texas Tech University System, I thank him for his contributions to the School of Medicine, TTUHSC and the medical field and congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition.”

Neugebauer, a University Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacology, is the founding director of the Center of Excellence for Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics and executive director and chief scientific officer of the Garrison Institute on Aging. He also holds the Giles McCrary Endowed Chair in Addiction Medicine and the Mildred and the Shirley L. Garrison Endowed Chair in Aging. 

TTUHSC President Lori Rice-Spearman, Ph.D., said Neugebauer’s accomplishments and his steadfast commitment to scholarship, professionalism and mentorship make him deserving of this recognition.

“This distinguished honor recognizes Dr. Neugebauer’s outstanding contributions to our academic community and his field of study,” Rice-Spearman said. “As a physician-scientist, his expertise benefits advancements in innovative research and health care delivery. We are fortunate to have such an exceptional scholar and educator with us, and I’m honored to acknowledge him as Grover E. Murray Professor."

In 2014, Neugebauer joined the TTUHSC School of Medicine, where he initiated collaborative basic science projects and studies in humans on mechanisms, biomarkers and interventions for pain, aging-related health issues, including mental health, dementias, Alzheimer's disease in particular and other disorders. The overall goal of Neugebauer’s translational research is the better understanding of mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric disorders to improve brain health through innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Neugebauer, an internationally recognized expert in neuroscience, particularly in understanding neuroplasticity and identifying novel therapeutic targets, has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1999, including 19 grants totaling approximately $21 million. He also received 18 foundation/industry grants and two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants totaling nearly $2 million. His innovative research also resulted in two patents. 

Neugebauer also oversees the Garrison Institute on Aging Brain Bank, Project FRONTIER, a longitudinal epidemiological study on aging and cognitive decline in a multi-ethnic sample of adults in rural communities, and community outreach programs to educate and improve the mental health of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease- related dementias and their informal caregivers. 

Neugebauer’s work has been published in more than 144 peer-reviewed research manuscripts, 345 scientific abstracts and presented in 160 invited lectures at regional, national and international venues and conferences. His nationally and internationally recognized (h-index 66, 13509 citations, Google Scholar, 07-10-24) research was ranked in the Stanford University/Elsevier’s sixth edition of the World’s Top 2% of Scientists List. The rankings combine standardized data on citations, h-index and other bibliometric indicators to identify the world's leading researchers and comprise approximately 2% of all scientists worldwide.

Neugebauer obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Würzburg, Germany. He received postgraduate training in physiology, pharmacology, neuroscience and neurology at the University of Würzburg and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Neugebauer practiced neurology before shifting his focus exclusively to translational research.