Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research
Professor, Department of Psychology

kusnecov@rci.rutgers.edu, (848) 445-3473

Professor Alex Kusnecov received his PhD in 1990 from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. This was followed by a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical School in New York State, where he continued his training in psychoneuroimmunology. Pursuant to this, Dr. Kusnecov was on faculty in the Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, before joining Rutgers in 1998. Much of his research focuses on the functional relationship between brain and behavior, the endocrine system, and the immune system. Using mouse models, he seeks to understand how central and peripheral events related to infection and activation of the immune system influence the cognitive and emotional state of animals, and through what molecular mechanisms this might occur. In addition to animal behavioral neuroscience research, Dr. Kusnecov is also conducting human studies of the startle reflex response, and how this is modulated by genetic and cognitive and emotional processes. His involvement in the Institute for Health at Rutgers also allows for collaborations on the relationship between psychosocial variables, aging, neuropathology (eg., stroke) and the immune response. Currently he is also serving as the undergraduate Vice-Chair of the Psychology Department.