Dr. Nimgaonkar directs research projects and research training in the United States, India and Egypt. His training includes Medicine (MBBS) from the University of Madras; Ph.D. (DPhil) from the University of Oxford, UK; psychiatric residency training at the Maudsley Hospital, London, UK, and post-doctoral training at the University of London, UK.  He is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology.

Dr. Nimgaonkar is a Rhodes scholarship recipient along with the recipient of many other prestigious awards including the Sir Dennis Hill Prize from the Institute of Psychiatry, London, the NIMH Independent Scientist Award, the Harry Levin Award for Clinical Excellence from Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and an Outstanding Mentorship Award from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Nimgaonkar’s laboratory focuses on human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technologies to model infections with viruses that can impair cognitive functions, including Herpes simplex virus, type 1 (HSV-1), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Zika virus (ZIKV). His group was the first to develop iPSC-based models of latent HSV-1 infection.  Their cellular models have enabled them to identify several novel antiviral compounds.  They are now synthesizing and testing new derivatives to identify active pharmacophores. Separately, they have used our hiPSC-neuronal models to investigate copy number variants (CNVs) that elevate risk for psychiatric disorders. They are presently refining three-dimensional culture models of hiPSC-derived neurons. His translational work emphasizes research-based training. The laboratory’s work has been continuously supported for the past 25 years by the NIH of Health and currently focuses on novel interventions for severe psychiatric illnesses.