Judith E. Grisel

Judith Grisel was raised on the east coast and received her B.A. from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, but her graduate and post-doctoral work were done in the west. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she studied environmental influences toward drug abuse in the behavioral neuroscience laboratory of Steven Maier. In order to develop a more well-rounded knowledge of the biological basis of drug and alcohol abuse, Dr. Grisel did a three-year post-doc at the Oregon Health Sciences University, where she studied genetic contributions to drug abuse at the Portland Addiction Research Center, under the direction of John Crabbe. At Furman, she focuses on the interaction between environmental and genetic factors that lead to a propensity to abuse drugs. In particular, she studies the role of opioid peptides (e.g., endorphin) in addiction.

Dr. Grisel’s dissertation investigated the biochemical basis for learned tolerance to morphine and was published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior and Psychopharmacology. Papers arising from her post-doctoral work on the genetic substrates of amphetamine sensitivity, characterization of a new morphine-like brain chemical, and use of transgenic mice in the study of alcoholism have been published in Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroreport, Neuroscience, and Brain Research. Dr. Grisel has received two NIH grants during her tenure at Furman to help pursue these interests. She is also committed to a greater understanding of the ways that females and males differ in terms of their neurobiology and behavior. Research continues to be one of her highest goals, and Dr. Grisel is most excited about being at Furman because of the unique and extensive opportunities it affords for collaboration with students in this endeavor.

Dr. Grisel married Jimmy Snow from Pumpkintown, SC in 2000 and has become a stepparent to his two boys, Oliver and Trey Snow. Their daughter, Maren Snow, will be five on their wedding anniversary this fall.