Invited Talk by Dr Karoly Mirnics

Károly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at UNMC, one of the largest intellectual and developmental disability centers in the world. He serves as the Hattie B. Munroe Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dr. Mirnics earned his medical degree from the University of Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia) School of Medicine, and his Ph.D. from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh where he established his own laboratory in 2000. In 2006, his laboratory moved to the department of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. MMI is one of the oldest and largest clinical, research, education and outreach IDD institutes in the world, with a 103-year history, 570 employees and >400 long-term trainees. MMI provides services across >40 locations across the state with >120,000 clinical visits yearly. As an internationally recognized, disease-oriented neuroscientist, Dr. Mirnics collaborates with scientists across the world. His research team is working to uncover the molecular basis of human brain disorders, and develop treatments for these conditions. His innovative research uses a variety of genetic, molecular, cell biology and behavioral tools across multiple diseases models, and has attracted more than $12 million of extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Mirnics serves on the editorial boards of more than a dozen prominent scientific journals and numerous national scientific advisory committees. He has authored more than 150 scientific publications, which have been cited more than 17,000 times. For all of Dr. Mirnics' accomplishments, as a researcher, teacher, community advocate, and administrator, his greatest passion and desire is to improve the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Since arriving at UNMC in 2016, in recognition of his diversity, access and inclusion work he has received multiple prominent national and local awards and recognitions. These include (but are not limited to) the 2018 Help is Hope Award from Autism Action Partnership and is recognized as the 2019 Friends of Scottish Rite Honoree by the masons. He currently serves on the board of directors of Special Olympic International and chairs the SOI Global Medical Advisory Committee, advising on strategic health issue of more than 6 million athletes across >200 countries. Since 2022, he is also a member of the ASPR National Advisory Committee on Individuals with Disabilities & Disasters, and since 2023 he is a member of the Omaha Children’s Museum Capital Project Advisory Group. Finally, under his leadership UNMC built the most advanced, award-winning, 220,000 sq ft multipurpose building – solely serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disability. In his free time, he enjoys reading and fishing, and he is an avid chess player.