Dr. Susanna Rosi is the Lewis and Ruth Cozen Chair II, Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science and Neurological Surgery and Director of Neurocognitive Research at the Brain and Spinal Injury Center.
The Rosi laboratory studies how brain injury and neuroinflammation impact cognitive functions. Her work provided the first mechanistic evidence for the role of microglia in the development of cognitive deficits after therapeutic brain irradiation and galactic cosmic ray exposure. Her work advanced our understanding of charged particle-induced cognitive challenges in a sex-dimorphic manner, provided evidence for early peripheral biomarkers for identifying late cognitive deficits, and offered potential therapeutic strategies for mitigating radiation-induced cognitive loss. She discovered the role of the integrated stress response (ISR) in traumatic brain injury and aging. Her collaborative work with Walter was first to demonstrate the curative effects of ISR inhibitors in TBI-induced dementia, as well as its rejuvenating effects on cognitive brain function in aged mice.