Claritas Distinguished Lecture in Sciences

Multifaceted Origins of Sex Differences in the Brain

November 5, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Stretansky Concert Hall

Neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders are profoundly gender biased across the lifespan, with boys experiencing higher rates of neurodivergence during development, resulting in more frequent diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity and early onset schizophrenia; while women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety and compulsion-related conditions.

Disentangling sex and gender in humans is confoundingly complex, compelling the use of animal models to explore the biological origins of sex differences in the brain. Using the laboratory rat as a model, McCarthy’s lab focuses on early life programming of the brain by gonadal hormones that differ in males and females, leading to surprising roles for immune cells and signaling molecules traditionally thought to be inducers of inflammation. She finds that cell-to-cell communication is essential, with distinct but intertwined roles for astrocytes, microglia and neurons, all occurring in a regionally specific manner with unique functional and behavioral outcomes.

In this talk, McCarthy will focus on the neural underpinnings of a transient but essential behavior — adolescent social play — and describe new findings of transient immune populations in the brain, suggesting heretofore unknown sensitive periods.

About the Speaker 

Margaret McCarthy received a doctoral degree from the Institute of Animal Behavior at Rutgers University, completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in New York and was a National Research Council Fellow at NIH-NIAAA, before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1993. She was a professor in the Department of Physiology before becoming the chair of the Department of Pharmacology in 2011 in which capacity she served until 2024.

McCarthy has a long-standing interest in the cellular mechanisms establishing sex differences in the brain. She uses a combined behavioral and mechanistic approach in the laboratory rat to understand both normal brain development and how these processes might go selectively awry in males versus females.

McCarthy is the inaugural director of the University of Maryland – Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND), a fellow with AAAS and ACNP, and former president of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences and the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024.

Claritas Distinguished Lecture in the Sciences 

George E. ’64 and Margaret Lauver ’66 Harris endowed the Distinguished Visitor Program at Susquehanna University. This program is designed to facilitate lectures, seminars or residencies by nationally acclaimed figures in business, government, or education, focusing on topics of public interest. The series invites a distinguished scholar in the sciences to deliver a public address on our campus, usually in the fall of the academic year and is organized by the School of Natural & Social Sciences.

Past Speakers

• 2023–24: Cathy O’Neil, Auditing Algorithms
• 2022–23: Michael S. Davis,  The James Webb Space Telescope: It Works; Perfectly!
• 2021–22: Sam Sternberg,  Rewriting the Code of Life with CRISPR  
• 2019–20: Jackie Faherty, Our Cosmic Ballet
• 2018–19: Mary Lou Zeeman,  Dynamical Systems and Their Application to Mathematical Biology
• 2017–18: Richard Robinson, Metastable Nanoparticles for Energy Applications
• 2016–17: Robert S. Pickart, In Search of Sinking Water: Wintertime Fieldwork in the North Atlantic Ocean
• 2015–16: John Rogers, Electronics for the Human Body
• 2014–15: Bonnie Bassler, Tiny Conspiracies: Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria
• 2013–14: Sonia Kreidenweis, Clearing the Air: 25 Years of Visibility Observations in US National Parks … And What They Tell Us About Our World
• 2012–13: Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species
• 2011–12: Kerry Ressler, Fear and its Inhibition: From Mice to Men
• 2010–11: Edward O. Wilson, The Creation: An Appeal To Save Life on Earth
• 2009–10: Tyrone B. Hayes, From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads & Men
• 2008–09: Larry R. Squire, Conscious and Unconscious Memory Systems of the Mammalian Brain
• 2007–08: Tim Flannery, The Weather Makers
• 2006–07: Rita Colwell, Climate, Infectious Disease and Human Health
• 2005–06: Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed

Lectures & Speakers Series

Susquehanna’s diverse selection of lectureships and speaker series brings together esteemed scholars, industry leaders and influential voices to share their expertise and perspectives with the campus community. These events serve as vibrant platforms for critical thinking, fostering a culture of intellectual exploration and innovation.