Nicole Lewellyn Schramm-Sapyta

Dr. Schramm-Sapyta earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from N.C. State University in 1994 and her doctoral degree in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University in 2000.  She is currently an associate professor of the practice and Associate Director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.  She has a long-standing interest in the neurobiology of drug addiction, using rodent models to investigate adolescent vulnerability to addiction. Her scientific expertise in this area supports her passion to bring scientific and clinical knowledge to inform public policy and educate the public about mental health and addiction.  Her course offerings at Duke include “Drugs and the Law,” “Reward and Addiction,” and “Biological Bases of Behavior.”  She co-leads a Bass Connections team on the subject of “Mental Health and the Justice System in Durham County.” 
 
Her early career was dedicated to exploring the biological basis of drug addiction using rodent behavioral models, with a particular interest in adolescent vulnerability to addiction. This work led her to appreciate the importance of resilience and mental health in individuals and society as a whole, and the role the public policy can play in this area.