Marcia N. Gordon, Ph.D., earned a B.S. in Psychobiology and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California under the guidance of Caleb E. Finch, a Ph.D. studying the neurobiology of aging. Dr. Gordon received postdoctoral training at the University of California, Los Angeles in developmental neuroscience with the late Jean De Vellis, Ph.D., where Dr. Gordon developed her interest in glial cells. She then joined the faculty of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida where she was promoted through the faculty ranks over the next 25 years. Dr.Gordon joined the Department of Translational Neuroscience and College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University as a tenured Global Impact Initiative Professor in 2017. Her research program, funded by nationally competitive federal grants, foundation grants and corporate contracts, is focused on preclinical biomedical laboratory research using mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Gordon is a former recipient of the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association. She is especially interested in the role of innate immunity in neurodegenerative disease, biochemical and cellular changes accompanying aging, and mechanisms of resilience and neuroprotection, with the ultimate goal of developing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease, including small molecule agents, vaccines, biologics and gene therapy. A major project in the lab at present seeks to understand the role of cellular senescence in development of Alzheimer-like pathology. She is proud to have mentored numerous high school, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scholars, and is a diligent proponent for women in the sciences.