Anis Contractor received his Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from University College London in the laboratory of Professor Alasdair Gibb, where he studied the functional properties of NMDA receptors. He performed postdoctoral studies at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies with Professor Stephen Heinemann, where he studied the role of glutamate receptors in synaptic plasticity and development. He joined the faculty at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2004, where his laboratory focuses on studies of synaptic and circuit mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders in mouse models. Contractor is currently a professor in the Department of Physiology with a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurobiology.