By Erin Jester
Eric Porges, Ph.D., an associate professor in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, has been named a UF Research Foundation Professor for 2026-2029.
Porges, who is also an associate director for the Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory and the assistant director of the Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium, is among 33 faculty members recognized for work that advances discovery, creativity and innovation across campus.
“UFRF Professors represent the depth and breadth of research excellence at the University of Florida,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research. “Their work reflects sustained scholarly achievement, leadership within their disciplines and a commitment to pursuing new knowledge that benefits society.”
Porges’ research focuses on a wide range of cutting-edge methods to understand and intervene on age-related neurophysiological processes that affect cognition and memory. He studies both normal cognitive aging and factors that accelerate it, such as chronic illness and modifiable behaviors.
What makes his research so unique are the novel ways Porges and his collaborators are studying some potential interventions: outside the lab, with participants self-administering neuromodulation techniques at home.
“These methods have potential to scale in ways that laboratory research alone is often limited in,” he said. “We’ve worked very hard to develop interventions that are tolerable and that people will want to do.”
He is known internationally for studying normal trajectories of a neurotransmitter known as GABA across healthy aging, contributing substantially to the literature in the area; and for non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation as a neuromodulation technique. He is the author or co-author of 170 publications and his work has been cited more than 5,000 times, helping to establish UF as a leader in neurometabolic aging research.
Porges holds two issued and one pending patent, for non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation and metabolic spectroscopy methods to treat diabetes.
“Dr. Porges is a scientist of exceptional creativity, leadership and influence whose research program exemplifies the highest standards of sustained excellence,” Department of Clinical and Health Psychology interim co-chairs Michael Marsiske, Ph.D., and Lori Waxenberg, Ph.D., wrote in a letter of support.
The three-year UFRF award includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant. The professorships are funded by the university’s royalty and licensing income on UF-generated products.
“I’m extremely honored to know that of all the research taking place in the college and the university, the work we’re doing here is worthy of acknowledgement,” Porges said.