Kris Dickson, Ph.D.

Kris Dickson is the senior manager of scientific operations at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She works with Morgan Sheng, co-director of the Stanley Center, and Patricia Kabitzke, senior advisor to the director, to develop and drive scientific strategy, to ensure efficient and effective scientific program operations, and to promote Stanley Center scientific communications both internally and externally.

Prior to joining the Broad Institute in 2023, Dickson spent 18 years in science publishing and communication. In 2005, Dickson joined the Neuron editorial team, becoming the deputy editor in 2011. In 2013, Dickson switched to freelance science writing and editing, collaborating with numerous researchers on manuscript submissions and grant writing and freelance consulting for SFARI and PLOS Biology. After a short stint in 2022 as a neurosciences senior editor and section manager at PLOS Biology, Dickson came to the Stanley Center at Broad Institute. Dickson is conversant in all areas of neural and cognitive sciences through her own scientific work and her editorial and freelance science experiences. She now has a special focus on neuropsychiatric research at the Stanley Center.

Dickson earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry in the laboratory of Marvin Wickens at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, studying translational control mechanisms during early development. As a postdoctoral fellow and independent researcher, Dickson transferred her knowledge of translational control mechanisms to tackling our understanding of local translation in neurons and the molecular mechanisms involved in Fragile X syndrome, working first in Seth Grant’s laboratory and then independently at the University of Edinburgh.