Michael McConnell, PhD
Scientific Director
Mike joined the LGS Foundation as Scientific Director in June 2024. In this role, he leads the Cure LGS 365 Research Grants Program, organizes the scientific program for our bi-annual research symposium Meeting of the Minds, assists with the LGS Registry in partnership with the National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD), and participates in the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)’s “Rare As One” network. Mike also works closely with the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) and attends the meetings of the Society for Neuroscience and the American Epilepsy Society.
Mike completed his PhD at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and is a neuroscientist with expertise in stem cells and genomics. He did his post-doctoral fellowship work at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University and was a Crick-Jacobs Junior Fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He ran a lab at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, VA, and at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development / Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes in Baltimore, Maryland. For 10 years he organized and directed an immersive two-week course on cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology and single-cell analysis at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories on Long Island in New York. He has served as President of the Central Virginia Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience and as an Adjunct Faculty at Morgan State University, a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in Baltimore. He has published 5 book chapters and 48 peer-reviewed research articles in prominent scientific journals like Science, Cell Reports, and Nature Communications.
Mike came to the LGS Foundation because he wants rare disease research to move faster! He has witnessed the impact that patient advocacy foundations can have first-hand and now works with the LGS Foundation to drive LGS research forward. Mike lives in Charlottesville, VA with his wife Christa, daughters Emma and Maggie, and their border collie Mac.