Craig Powell, MD, PhD has been named chair of the Department of Neurobiology at the UCB School of Medicine and director of the Civitan International Research Center. Powell is a national leader in research pertaining to molecular mechanisms of learning and memory, synaptic plasticity, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, intellectual disability and Alzheimer's disease.

Powell comes to UAB from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics.

Powell earned both his PhD in neuroscience and MD with Honor at Baylor College of Medicine in 1994 and 1997, respectively. His graduate work was among the first studies to measure lasting biochemical changes during long-lasting synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. After his medical internship at Baylor College of Medicine, Powell trained at the University of California San Francisco Neurology Residency Program where he served as chief resident in his final year.