Zhanyan Fu was about to launch her career as a physician when she decided to focus instead on learning about the molecular mechanisms of disease. As a medical student at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China, Fu wanted to understand disease mechanisms at a molecular and cellular level with the hope of developing novel treatments for incurable diseases, especially those in the brain. So instead of becoming a doctor, she pursued a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology at Beijing Union Medical College, one of the most selective medical colleges in China. She then moved to Georgetown University as an exchange grad student and later for a postdoctoral position where she trained as an electrophysiologist, examining the electrical activity of neurons.
Fu is currently an associate director and research scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard’s Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, where she studies synapses and brain circuits in mouse models of psychiatric disorders including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia. She hopes that by identifying the mechanisms that underlie these disorders, rational new treatments can ultimately be developed that precisely target those mechanisms, reduce symptoms, and improve patients’ quality of life.
