Regina Armstrong, PhD

1987 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC Ph.D. in Neurobiology
1982 University of Rochester, Rochester, NY B.S. in Neurosciences

Dr. Armstrong’s primary academic appointment is as Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics in the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at USU. Dr. Armstrong holds secondary appointments in the Neuroscience and the Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Programs. Dr. Armstrong received the faculty award for Outstanding Graduate Biomedical Educator from the School of Medicine in 2002. She served as Director of the USU Neuroscience Graduate Program from 2002-2008 before stepping down to establish the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM). The CNRM is a collaborative intramural research program of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). The CNRM focus is pre-clinical through clinical research to promote recovery from traumatic brain injury and to improve psychological health in combat casualties cared for at WRNMMC. Dr. Armstrong served as the Director of the CNRM from 2008-2017 and now serves as the CNRM Director of Translational Research.
Dr. Armstrong teaches in the first year medical student module on the nervous system and in several graduate student courses. Dr. Armstrong’s laboratory focuses on mechanisms of damage and repair in the brain and spinal cord. This work employs diverse research approaches, from molecular techniques to neuroimaging, to address ways to improve neuroregeneration and repair capacity in the CNS. Research efforts in her laboratory have been funded through peer-reviewed competitive awards from the NIH, the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and the Department of Defense.
Dr. Armstrong’s research program has focused on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuroregeneration. This work has taken from developmental studies and applied the techniques and approaches to examine repair after disease or injury. More specifically, her lab has extensive experience in white matter injury in multiple sclerosis models and in single and repetitive closed head injury models of mild traumatic brain injury.
Her research team uses diverse approaches including genetic mouse models, neural stem cell culture, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral assessments. Our philosophy is that combining multiple independent techniques will result in more in-depth understanding and improved translational potential. Our work has also utilized collaborations to include analysis of human neuropathological specimens to validate aspects of our animal model studies.