The Oxford Encyclopedia of Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Systems

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Systems provides an up-to-date survey of the wide range of scholarship being conducted on these two systems in the field of neuroendocrinology. The Encyclopedia includes more than 50 articles--each approximately 8,000 words in length--that provide thorough overviews of a diverse set of topics in neuroendocrine regulation, neuroimmunology, behavioral neuroendocrinology, autonomic regulation, stress, thirst and water balance, regulation of food intake, and biological rhythms and sleep, among many others. All authors were commissioned specifically for the Encyclopedia, and all articles received blind peer reviews. The articles provide critical and synthetic examinations, as well as the history, progress, direction, and debates about research on a given topic, surveying developments and different perspectives, and discussing important contributors and contributions. The Encyclopedia offers coverage of core and emerging areas of research to provide readers a reliable source of specialist information on topics not discussed in existing reference works. As such, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Systems represents a unique contribution to scholarship in neuroendocrinology and will be a standard reference for researchers, students, and professionals in the field.

Randy J. Nelson holds the Hazel Ruby McQuain Chair for Neurological Research in the WVU School of Medicine and is director of basic science research in the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, as well as across the University. He also leads the neuroscience PhD program as one of the seven biomedical science PhD programs at the Health Sciences Center, and serves as a professor and inaugural chair in the new Department of Neuroscience. Professor Nelson earned his AB and MA degrees in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a PhD in Psychology in 1983, as well as a second PhD in Endocrinology in 1984, both from UC Berkeley. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Reproductive Biology at the University of Texas, Austin. Professor Nelson served on the faculty at The Johns Hopkins University from 1986 until 2000, where he was a professor of psychology, neuroscience, biochemistry, and molecular biology. He then served on the faculty at The Ohio State University from 2000 - 2018, during which time he served as Distinguished University Professor, as well as the co-director of both the Neuroscience Research Institute (2014-2018) and the Neuroscience Graduate Studies Program (2003-2009). He was also the faculty lead of the Chronic Brain Injuries Discovery Theme. Nelson has published nearly 500 research articles and more than 10 books describing studies in biological rhythms, behavioral neuroendocrinology, and immune function.