Cherish Ardinger
Appointment Details
- Priority Area: Advancing STEM Diversity
- Disciplines: Astrocytes, alcohol, addiction, striatum, circuitry, neuromodulators
- Mentor: Dr. Rafiq Hudda
- Mentor's Disciplines: Astrocytes, neurons, disease, neuromodulators
- School: School of Arts and Sciences
- Department: Cell Biology and Neuroscience
About Cherish Ardinger
Dr. Cherish Ardinger is an NIAAA F32-supported addiction neuroscientist with an overarching interest in understanding the physiological phenomena that underlie behavior. She is currently interested in studying the neurobiological causes of and identifying treatments for addiction. Cherish's postdoctoral research focuses on how astrocyte modulation of cell-specific striatum circuits contributes to alcohol-related behaviors.
Cherish received her PhD from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, where she studied neural networks involved in alcohol frontloading and binge drinking.
As a Rutgers Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Cherish will actively work against systemic inequities that limit diversity in science, including those that affected her own personal trajectory into STEM as a first-generation college student. She aims to do this through a continued commitment to scientific outreach and ongoing mentorship skill building with a goal of becoming an uplifting and inclusive mentor with the cultural competency to embrace the differences that each student brings to the lab or classroom.