Cheryl Sisk
American neuroscientist
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Cheryl L. Sisk is an American behavioral neuroscientist and neuroendocrinologist known for her research on the role of pubertal steroid hormones in adolescent brain development and the maturation of adult social behaviors. She is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology and Neuroscience at Michigan State University (MSU), where she spent her entire faculty career.[1][2]
Florida State University (MA, PhD)
- Pubertal hormone effects on adolescent brain development
- Two-stage model of behavioral sexual differentiation
- University Distinguished Professor, MSU (2013)
- Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award (2022)
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2023)
Cheryl L. Sisk | |
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| Alma mater | Baylor University (BS) Florida State University (MA, PhD) |
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| Fields | Behavioral neuroscience, neuroendocrinology |
| Institutions | Michigan State University |
Sisk is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected 2023), recognized for her contributions to understanding puberty's impact on the adolescent brain and its relationship to sex differences in social behaviors and psychopathologies.[3]
Education
Sisk received her Bachelor of Science in psychology from Baylor University in 1974. She then earned a Master of Arts in psychobiology/neuroscience in 1976 and a PhD in psychobiology/neuroscience in 1980, both from Florida State University.[1]
Career
Faculty career at Michigan State University
Sisk joined the Michigan State University faculty in the Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Program within the College of Natural Science.[1] She was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2013.[4][5]
Administrative roles
Sisk served as director of the MSU Neuroscience Program.[6] She also served as associate dean for faculty development in the College of Natural Science, and later as interim dean of the College of Natural Science from January to August 2018, preceding the appointment of Phillip Duxbury as dean.[2][7] She currently holds the title of Associate Dean Emerita.[6]
Research
Sisk's research focuses on the influence of gonadal steroid hormones—including testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone—on the structure and function of the nervous system during puberty and adolescence. Her laboratory has combined approaches from neuroendocrinology, developmental neurobiology, and behavioral neuroscience to investigate how pubertal hormones shape the developing brain and contribute to the maturation of adult behaviors.[1]
Two-stage model of behavioral sexual differentiation
Sisk and her collaborators proposed an extension of the classic organizational–activational hypothesis of hormone-driven sexual differentiation of the brain, originally formulated by Phoenix, Goy, Gerall, and Young in 1959. Their two-stage model proposes that the well-established perinatal period of steroid-dependent sexual differentiation is followed by a second wave of steroid-dependent neural organization during puberty and adolescence, in which pubertal hormones first reorganize neural circuits and then activate those circuits to facilitate the expression of adult sex-typical behaviors.[8][9]
Pubertal neurogenesis and sexual dimorphism
A 2008 paper in Nature Neuroscience by Sisk and colleagues demonstrated that new cells, including neurons, are added to several brain regions during puberty in rats, and that sex differences in pubertal cell addition correspond to adult sexual dimorphisms in brain volume. The study showed that removing gonadal hormones before puberty eliminates these sex differences, providing direct evidence that gonadal steroids actively maintain and accentuate sexual dimorphisms in the brain beyond the perinatal period.[10]
Honours and awards
- 2013 – University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University[4]
- 2022 – Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology[2]
- 2023 – Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[3]