A.J. Baucum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Previously Dr. Baucum was an Associate Professor in the Biology Department and was previously the Director of Thesis Graduate Studies. Prior to his time in the Biology Department, A.J. did his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Roger Colbran at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. A.J. received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Utah where he did his graduate training in the laboratory of Dr. Annette Fleckenstein. A.J. received his B.S. of Biology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. A.J.’s current research foci are on synaptic striatal signaling that mediate motor output changes associated with multiple disorders, including substance use disorder, and neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson disease. The laboratory studies how specific synaptic phosphatase targeting proteins, called spinophilin and neurabin, modify how we learn motor tasks and promote motor output or inhibit inappropriate motor outputs. A.J. has had grants from multiple NIH institutes.

A.J. has a strong passion for graduate student education and diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEMM. I have served on the Teaching Advisory Committee for the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute and have served on over 50 student thesis and dissertation committees. I am also the inaugural chair of the Pharm/Tox DEI committee and was recently awarded the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Neuropharmacology Division Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Recognition Award.