Munroe-Meyer Institute

Károly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Munroe-Meyer Institute

Hattie B. Munroe Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UNMC

Dr. Mirnics earned his medical degree from the University of

Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia) School of Medicine, and his Ph.D. from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh where he established his own laboratory in 2000. In 2006, his laboratory moved to the department of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

In 2010, Dr. Mirnics was named James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry and served as the departmental vice chair for research and associate director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, the oldest intellectual and developmental disabilities research center in the United States. In 2016 he joined the UNMC family, becoming the fourth Director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation (MMI).

As an internationally recognized, disease-oriented neuroscientist, Dr. Mirnics collaborates with scientists across the country and the world working with his research team to discover the molecular basis of human brain disorders, and develop treatments for these conditions. His innovative research uses a variety of genetic, molecular, cell biology and behavioral tools across multiple diseases models, and has attracted more than $15 million of extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Mirnics serves on the editorial boards of more than a dozen prominent scientific journals and numerous national scientific advisory committees. He has authored more than 150 scientific publications, which have been cited more than 14,000 times. He has received multiple prominent national and local awards for his scientific endeavors and community engagement, including the 2018 Help is Hope Award from the Autism Action Partnership recognition as the 2019 Friends of Scottish Rite Honoree. He is an elected member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences external council, and serves on the board of directors of Special Olympic International. 

For all of Dr. Mirnics' accomplishments, as a researcher, teacher, community advocate, and administrator, his greatest passion and desire is to improve the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. His vision is to see MMI become a worldwide leader in transforming the lives of all individuals with disabilities and complex health care needs.

He is married to Zeljka Korade, DVM, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics at UNMC, and has two children (Marco and Emma). In his free time, he enjoys reading and fishing, and he is an avid chess player.