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Barry R. Komisaruk, Ph.D.

KomisarukBarry R. Komisaruk, Ph.D. BS, Biology, CUNY, 1961; PhD, Psychobiology, Rutgers, 1965; NIH postdoc, Neuroendocrinology, UCLA; Rutgers faculty, 1966-present (47th year on the faculty); Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor; Associate Dean of the Graduate School 2006-2011; Adjunct Professor, Department of Radiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Former Chairman, Rutgers University IRB; On leave as Program Director in the Minority Opportunities in Research Division of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, 2001-2004; Program Director, NIH-Minority Biomedical Research Support Grant at Rutgers-Newark currently.  Currently, Associate Editor, Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Research specialty: Behavioral Neuroscience, human and rat. Major research findings/discoveries: Early: Single neuronal activity correlates of natural behavior in freely-moving rats (with James Olds, 1968); EEG theta waves are synchronized with exploratory sniffing movements in rats.  More recent: Vaginal stimulation in rats and humans blocks pain; Patent for a pain-blocking neuropeptide fragment based on this finding; Vagus nerves convey vaginal sensation directly to brain in women with severed spinal cord; First evidence of brain regions activated during orgasm in women based on functional MRI; Evidence that Vagus nerve projections in human brain can be accessed non-invasively by electrical stimulation of the ear; First evidence that Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD) is caused by Tarlov cysts.

Research funding via grants from NIH, NSF, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, NJ Commission on Spinal Cord Research, and private industry: total over $12M.  Hugo F. Beigel Research Award in Human Sexuality. Published over 155 research papers, over 160 conference abstracts, and 4 books, most recently “The Science of Orgasm,” Johns Hopkins University Press, translated into Spanish, Chinese, German, and Dutch, which has received the Bullough Award of the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

Former member, Psychobiology Review Panel of the NSF; Conceptualized and played a major role in the development of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University in 1984; Supervised doctoral dissertations of 25 PhDs +2 currently, and 15 postdocs + one currently.