John Salamone
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor & Director of Behavioral Neuroscience Professor University of Connecticut
Dr. John Salamone received his Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1982. For postdoctoral training, Dr. Salamone received a National Science Foundation grant and studied at Cambridge University in England, working with Susan Iversen and Trevor Robbins. Dr. Salamone stayed in England for several more years, working at Merck, Sharpe and Dohme pharmaceutical laboratories. After returning to the US, Dr. Salamone joined the Psychological Sciences department of the University of Connecticut in 1988, where he is currently the head of Behavioral Neuroscience and co-Director of the Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Dr. Salamone has published multiple articles and book chapters focused on research in the fields of behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychopharmacology, focusing on the neural circuitry regulating motivation, with a particular emphasis on studies related to animal models of effort-related decision making, fatigue, apathy, avolition, depression and Parkinsonism. Dr. Salamone frequently collaborates on translational and industrial projects, having received grants from Chronos, Blackthorn, Shire, Acadia, Noema, Lundbeck, and Otsuka.
Seminars
- Translating animal models of effort-based decision making into clinical insights to better characterize apathy and motivational deficits across neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders
- Targeting dopaminergic mechanisms, including modulation of dopamine transmission with atypical dopamine transport inhibitors to address apathy‑related motivational dysfunctions
- Exploring non dopaminergic pathways such as adenosinergic mechanisms and other emerging targets that offer complementary routes to restoring motivation
- Building an integrated therapeutic framework that combines dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic strategies to overcome unmet needs in treating apathy and motivational impairments
