Jonathan Lifshitz, PhD, leads the Neurotrauma & Social Impact research team as a joint venture between the University of Michigan Concussion Center, Michigan Medicine Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System. He is a Michigan Impact Professor and VA Research Health Scientist. Research projects focus on investigative, restorative, and regenerative treatments for traumatic brain injury as it develops into chronic neurodegenerative disease. We investigate domestic violence, child abuse, gender imbalance, and Veteran mental health, with focus on inflammation and circuit reorganization to detect and intervene. The goal is to train generations of investigators to apply rigorous data to work for social impact, including health and medical outcomes.

Dr. Lifshitz earned a Bachelors in Neuroscience from UCLA, a PhD in Neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania, and completed fellowships at UPenn and VCU. Following faculty positions in Lexington, KY and Phoenix, AZ, he joined the academic community in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He leads local, state, and federal funded projects, including ones on cognitive rehabilitation, pathodynamic imaging, neuroinflammation, and TBI during pregnancy. Currently, he is the scientific director for regional and national consortia to understand TBI arising from domestic violence. He has served on shared governance bodies at his institutions, chaired statewide councils, and serves on national and international professional societies. He reviews grants for national institutes.