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    Jill Ward, MS, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Assistant Professor
    Emory University School of Medicine, Georgia, United States

    Axon regeneration and plasticity are important to achieve functional recovery following traumatic injury or neurodegenerative diseases. I have more than 15 years of experience studying both central and peripheral axons after injury. In 2012, I completed my graduate studies on the role of locomotor training after spinal cord injury from the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville. I completed my post-doctoral training at Emory University in 2017, primarily studying peripheral axons, which have a greater capacity for regeneration compared to CNS axons. Since 2019, I have run an NIH-funded lab as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Emory University and teach gross anatomy in the School of Medicine. My research explores central and peripheral mechanisms of axon regeneration and plasticity with a focus on sympathetic neurons. In 2022, I received the R.R. Bensley Award in Cell Biology from the American Association of Anatomy. I am honored to serve on the scientific advisory board for the International Symposium on Neural Regeneration and on the steering committee for the NIH-supported initiative for Common Data Elements in preclinical spinal cord injury research.

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