Christopher Cowan is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, and he holds the William E. Murray SmartState Endowed Chair in Neuroscience. Dr. Cowan earned his BA from Wesleyan University (CT) and his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital in the area of molecular neurobiology. Prior to joining MUSC in 2016, Dr. Cowan was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School, and then an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. Dr. Cowan’s NIH-funded research focuses on both neurodevelopmental disorders and substance use disorder. His preclinical research lab, which utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to study these disorders, focuses on genetics and epigenetics, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, complex behavioral analyses and therapeutic development.