On Sept. 16, 2015, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced it had received a $5.65 million gift from Helen Dorris, a San Diego mental health advocate and founder of TSRI’s Dorris Neuroscience Center.

Dorris, who was a San Diego State University professor emeritus, founded a neuroscience center at TSRI in 1999 with a commitment of $10 million. The center was originally named the Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center, in her brother’s honor. She later founded TSRI’s Helen L. Dorris Institute for the Study of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders of Children and Adolescents. The two centers were consolidated in 2010 with an additional gift through The Harold L. Dorris Neuroscience Foundation.

The new gift will enhance the established endowment for the Dorris Neuroscience Center.

The Dorris Neuroscience Center brings together scientists early in their careers with established researchers in the field and provides them with high-end imaging technology and state-of-the-art genomic and genetic research tools to advance their research. Using diverse interdisciplinary biological, biophysical and chemical approaches, the researchers conduct investigations with particular strengths in sensory systems (including smell, hearing and pain), neuronal circuitry (including the systems that govern memory) and stem cell research.

The Dorris Neuroscience Center also sponsors three Helen Dorris Scholars, an annual student award, a number of summer student internships and a distinguished lecture series.