Linda Porter, Ph.D.

Dr. Linda Porter joined the NINDS in 2003 as a Program Director in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience. Dr. Porter received a B.Sc. in Physical Therapy from McGill University. Her clinical practice focused on developmental disabilities. She later earned a Ph.D. in neuroanatomy from Boston University School of Medicine. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, she trained with Hiroshi Asanuma in neurophysiology of sensory-motor systems. She was on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) for 15 years before joining the NINDS. During those years she directed an NIH funded research program aimed at elucidating mechanisms of sensory-motor integration at the cortical level. She also studied the effects of various neuromodulators on developing cortical neurons and their neuroprotective influence over neurons in the mature cortex. She taught in the Graduate Neuroscience Program and the School of Medicine at USUHS. As a Program Director at NINDS, Dr. Porter, is responsible for administrative and research issues related to peripheral and central mechanisms that mediate pain, central processing of pain perception, disease-related pain disorders, and pain management.