Molly Huntsman, PhD, is the grant writer for academic health in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Office of Research. Her expertise is in grant writing, where she assists in writing grant proposals for individual principal investigators and large-scale institutional proposals.

Prior to UNLV, Dr. Huntsman served as an associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in a joint position at the school of medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. As a principal investigator trained in electrophysiology and molecular biology, her research expertise focused on determining biophysical changes at the level of synaptic connections in the brain and through ion-channel electrophysiology in neurotypical conditions and in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome (FXS) — a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by intellectual disability and autism. With over 50 co-authored publications, her theory that inhibitory neurotransmission defects are causal of enhanced excitability in FXS and neurodevelopmental disorders is widely accepted and frequently cited.

During her academic career, Dr. Huntsman has maintained funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a principal investigator or co-investigator for over 17 consecutive years. She has served on multiple review panels for both private foundations and on review panels for the NIH for her expertise in the biophysics underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Her primary reviewing expertise is on the R-series research project grants, in addition to providing expert reviews for the NIH Directors' Pioneer Awards (DP1) and research fellowship awards.

Dr. Huntsman was a charter member of the clinical neuroplasticity and neurotransmitter (CNNT) study section and a returning ad-hoc member of neurotransporters, receptors and calcium signaling (NTRC) and developmental brain disorders (DBD) study sections. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Southern California, a doctorate degree from the University of California, Irvine, and completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University.