NINDS's New Scientific Director: Jeffrey Diamond, Ph.D.

An Eye for Talent: Diamond will Foster Inclusivity, Mentorship

BY JOHN CARLO JADORMEO COMBISTA, NIMH

Jeffrey Diamond was named scientific director (SD) of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in August 2023, after serving for one year as acting SD. He leads a program of approximately 50 PIs and hundreds of trainees and support staff, succeeding both Lorna Role, who was NINDS SD from 2019 to 2021, and Nina Schor, who served as an interim SD while deputy director of NINDS.

Diamond said he is excited to embark on the long-term planning necessary to steer the future direction of NINDS research and advance its mission. He is planning an inclusive approach to identify the research strengths of the NINDS community and will talk and listen to people about strategies that would complement those strengths, rather than imposing a specific scientific direction on the institute.

“My vision focuses on the quality of the environment, the science that we are doing, and the interactions and collaborations within the community,” Diamond said. “It is certainly humbling to have a leadership role in a community with so many world-class scientists. I am honored and excited because with the advancements of technology, there has probably never been a more exciting time to study neuroscience.”

Diamond is best known for his research on understanding how neural circuits receive, compute, encode, and transmit information using the retina as a model system. His lab continues to examine how synapses and neurons within retinal circuits perform specific visual computations.

Colleagues across the NIH celebrate Diamond’s appointment. “Jeff is more than just a great scientist of the retina and synapses,” said Wei Li, senior investigator of the NEI’s Retinal Neurophysiology Section. “Trained as an engineer, he approaches the complexities of the retina with precision that is as admirable as it is effective. His warmth and consideration for others consistently shine through, and he is a creative leader marked by fairness and a strong sense of connection.”

Diamond’s journey at the NIH began when he joined NINDS as an investigator in 1999. Since then, he received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) in 2000 and was promoted to senior investigator in 2007.

The Synaptic Physiology Section, which Diamond leads, explores the biophysical properties of retinal synapses and how they compute visual contrast (Nat Neurosci 14:1555-1561, 2011). His laboratory was among the first to perform synaptic analysis at analogous retinal synapses (Nat Neurosci 7:826-833, 2004). A paper published with his graduate student, Andrés Chávez, described the synaptic mechanism behind feedback inhibition at reciprocal synapses between A17 amacrine cells and rod bipolar cells (Nature 443:705-708, 2006). Diamond’s own doctoral research left open big questions about how NMDA receptors in the brain work to enhance visual signaling, and 25 years later he published work that provided potential answers (Neuron 89:1277-1290, 2016).

Diamond credits his mentors and mentees, who have influenced the scientist and leader that he has become today. His former professor, Gerald Westheimer at the University of California at Berkeley, introduced him to the field of neuroscience through a lecture about the retina. And he expressed gratitude for David Copenhagen at the University of California at San Francisco for guiding his doctoral training, as well as Craig Jahr at the Vollum Institute (Portland, Oregon) for his postdoctoral training.

Of importance to Diamond is having mentors who are both older and younger than oneself, as well as those within and outside the field of science, to learn different perspectives.

“I have always benefited from the perspective and advice of my mentors, who are older and younger than me, especially as neuroscience becomes so incredibly diverse and technically sophisticated. It becomes difficult to stay on top of everything,” he said, adding, “the scientific enterprise would not continue without good mentoring.”

Outside of work, Diamond has learned how to make furniture, is fond of skiing, and has been playing golf since the pandemic.

John Carlo Jadormeo Combista is a predoctoral fellow in the NIMH Oligodendroglial Interactions Group under the supervision of Tobias Merson. He is interested in understanding how the brain develops and functions by exploring how patterns of myelination within specific neural circuits emerge. Outside of academia and writing, he is passionate about singing and volunteers his free time to work with vulnerable populations, such as children.