Top row (from left to right): Heather Snell, Karthik Shekhar, Constantina Theofanopoulou ; Bottom row (from left to right) Leena Ali Ibrahim, Tahra Eissa, Kauê Machado Costa

It is an honor to announce that on December 8, 2022, The Allen Institute has selected Leena Ali Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of Bioscience at KAUST and member of the KSHI Genetic & Metabolic Diseases core group, for its 2022 Next Generation Leaders. She and five early-career researchers will spend three years advising on research efforts at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the MindScope Program, and the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics.

"The Allen Institute is a leader in cutting edge neuroscience discoveries and is paving the way for better understanding of brain function. I am very excited to be part of the Next Generation Leaders Council and looking forward to contribute to their mission," says Leena Ali Ibrahim about her new role.

Next Generation Leaders are selected through a competitive process that includes applications from around the world. Each leader has a three-year term on the advisory council, for a total of 18 council members at any given time. As the program is focused on early-career neuroscience researchers, council members are postdoctoral fellows or newly appointed faculty members.

"The NGLs joining the Council this year have traveled diverse paths in neuroscience and bring a wide range of experience in research, mentoring, and advocacy. I'm looking forward to learning from their perspectives on how we can continue building an inclusive community to tackle key questions in brain evolution, development and function," said Trygve Bakken, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and co-chair of the Next Generation Leaders Committee along with Saskia de Vries, Ph.D., Principal Product Manager at the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics.

The Next Generation Leaders program also provides professional development for its members to serve as scientific advisors to other organizations, roles typically not given to scientists until they are well advanced in their careers, providing networking opportunities and peer support from Allen Institute researchers and other Next Generation Leaders and immersing them into Allen Institute neuroscience research, data and other resources. 

The Next Generation Leaders Council will convene at this year’s Showcase Symposium on December 13-14 at the Allen Institute where they will present their own research and give feedback on research presented by early-career Allen Institute researchers.