Dr. Cara Altimus is a senior director at the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy. Utilizing her expertise in neuroscience, Altimus advises individual philanthropists and foundations on the state of research for various disease areas to help them identify opportunities for giving.

Altimus has more than a decade of experience in neuroscience research, including neurological devices, psychiatric illness, learning and memory, as well as sleep and circadian rhythms. Most recently, Altimus worked at the Food and Drug Administration leading the Neural Interfaces Laboratory, which evaluates the safety and effectiveness of electrical stimulation methods in the brain. Beyond her research experience, she serves as the chair for the Trainee Advisory Committee for the Society for Neuroscience and spent a year as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow developing a neuroscience research portfolio at the Department of Justice.

Altimus holds a bachelor’s degree in genetics from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in biology from Johns Hopkins University. She works at the Institute’s Washington office.