Cori Bargmann is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor at the Rockefeller University and the head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. She has a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in cancer biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining The Rockefeller University, she was a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

Bargmann studies the genetic and molecular bases of behavior in C. elegans, with a focus on the olfactory system and generation of flexible behaviors. Using this animal model, her research has helped characterize pathways for axon guidance, synapse formation and neuronal differentiation.