Dr. Crina Nimigean has been named Distinguished Professor of Anesthesiology Research, one of two newly established professorships in the Department of Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Nimigean is a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics.
The appointment recognizes Dr. Nimigean's pioneering work in understanding how ion channels open and close, and her contributions to advancing the field of biophysics and the academic excellence of the Department of Anesthesiology and Weill Cornell Medicine.
"Professor Nimigean has been a major contributor to the scientific development of both the Department of Anesthesiology and the University as a leader in ion channel biophysics," said Dr. Hugh Hemmings, Jr., the senior associate dean for research at Weill Cornell Medicine and Joseph F. Artusio, Jr. Professor and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology. "Her outstanding research and mentoring has contributed to the evolution of the department as a premiere academic department of anesthesiology with a world class research program."
An internationally recognized biophysicist and structural biologist, Dr. Nimigean leads research that aims to understand how ion channel protein structure and mechanism interrelate at the molecular level to allow channels to elaborate various biological properties. The main focus of the Nimigean lab is to elucidate gating, selectivity, ligand modulation, and lipid/membrane modulation in ion channels using a wide range of biophysical and structural techniques.
Her research has been continuously supported by numerous NIH and private foundation grants, and recognized by awards and honors including the Kenneth S. Cole Award and the Margaret Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society, as well as election to president of the Society of General Physiologists. She is the author of more than sixty peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Nature, Nature journals and PNAS, and is an associate editor of the Journal of General Physiology.
Dr. Nimigean earned a B.S./M.S. degree in physics from Bucharest University in Romania and a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Miami. After postdoctoral training at Brandeis University, Dr. Nimigean's first faculty position as assistant professor was in the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the University of California at Davis. In 2008, she moved her laboratory to New York City at Weill Cornell Medical College.