Dr. Banks obtained his MD from the University of Missouri- Columbia and did clinical and research training at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center – New Orleans and Tulane University. He is currently Associate Chief of Staff –Research and Development at the Puget Sound VA and Professor of Medicine at University of Washington School of Medicine. His main interest is in blood-brain barrier function. He has published over 450 non-abstract articles, and over 20,000 citations according to Web of Science with an H-index fo 81.