C. Edward Dixon, PhD, received his PhD degree in physiological psychology from the Virginia Commonwealth University in 1985.That year, he was awarded a National Research Service Award for Postdoctoral Fellows by the National Institutes of Health and joined the Division of Neurological Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia.
In 1986, he became a postdoctoral fellow in the Biomedical Science Department of the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich. Dr. Dixon was named assistant professor in the Division of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Virginia in 1987 and became an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 1991.
In 1995, he joined the Brain Trauma Research Center in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh as associate professor. He became the director of the center in October 2002.
Dr. Dixon received his adjunct faculty positions with the Department of Anesthesiology in 1995; the Department of Neurobiology in 2000 and the Department of Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation in 2003.
In 2001, he became a co-director of the Safar Center for Resuscitative Research. In May of 2004, Dr. Dixon was named full professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and was later appointed vice chairman of research in the Department of Neurological Surgery in 2008.
In 2011, Dr. Dixon was honored with one of the highest honors the university can present a faculty member when he was awarded The Neurotrauma Chair in Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Dixon is a member of the advisory committee for PRE Clinical Interagency reSearch resourcE-TBI (PRECISE-TBI). As part of the PRECISE-TBI, he directs the Preclinical Model Catalogue Core and is a member of the working group for preclinical common data elements Dr. Dixon served as president of the National Neurotrauma Society for the 2002-03 term and continued as councilor of the society for terms 2004-07 and 2009-12. He also has continued as a study section participant of several public and private grant review panels. His research has dealt primarily with mechanisms of post-traumatic memory deficits, rodent models of traumatic brain injury, and functional outcomes.
Dr. Dixon has published 257 papers in refereed journals, two books (coeditor), 29 book chapters, and two editorials.
Dr. Dixon's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.
Specialized Areas of Interest
Professional Organization Membership
Professional Activities
Education & Training
- BA, Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1981
- MS, Physiology/Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1984
- PhD, Physiology/Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1985
- NIH-NHRSA Fellow, Medical College of Virginia, 1986
- Fellowship, General Motor Research Laboratories, 1987
Research Activities
Dr. Dixon’s funded research activities include performing studies to test the hypothesis that decreased neurogranin expression contributes to dysfunctional synaptic plasticity and cognition after TBI. He has examined the effects of TBI on neurogranin signaling and on therapies that modulate neurogranin expression.
Another research area is the role of epichaperomes on TBI pathology. Under conditions of cellular stress, the chaperomes become biochemically ‘rewired’ to form a network of stable, high-molecularweight complexes, recently called epichaperomes. Epichaperomes protect aberrant proteins from degradation, aid in their aggregation and ultimately alter complex protein networks associated with neuronal degeneration. Dr. Dixon has recently published the first demonstration of TBI produces an epichaperome response.
He is also a co-principal investigator of the Veterans Administration-funded PRE Clinical lnteragency research resourcE-TBI grant with the overarching mission is to develop a center entitled PRE-Clinical Interagency reSearch resourcE-Traumatic Brain Injury (PRECISE-TBI) with the mission of accelerating the development of therapies for TBI. Within this center, Dr. Dixon directs the TBI model catalog that has the goal to enhance reproducibility of preclinical TBI research by increasing the ability for researchers to find and access preclincial TBI model papers.
Media Appearances
Diplomats in Cuba Suffered Brain Injuries. Experts Still Don’t Know Why
February 15, 2018
New York Times
What hit her? The repercussions of traumatic brain injury are becoming clearer
Spring 2011
University of Pittsburgh PittMed