Michael Schumacher, PhD, is Senior Director of Research Emeritus at Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (ORCID 0000-0001-6117-5371). In 1998, he succeeded Etienne-Emile Baulieu as head of the research unit founded by him and directed the laboratory until 2026. A major line of the laboratory’s research has focused on the synthesis, metabolism, mechanisms of action, and functions of neurosteroids in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Particular emphasis continues to be placed on their roles in neuroprotection, brain resilience to injury and disease, and myelin regeneration. Major contributions from the group include the demonstration of the roles of endogenous progesterone and its metabolites in neuroprotection, myelin repair, and enhancement of the brain’s resistance to injury and neurological disease. The laboratory has also developed advanced methods for comprehensive neurosteroid profiling using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), providing important insights into their metabolism within the nervous system. More recent studies conducted with Abdel Ghoumari, Associate Professor at University Paris-Saclay, reveal that myelin regeneration in the adult CNS is strictly dependent in males on testes, testosterone, and androgen receptor (AR) signaling in the brain, acting in cooperation with the chemokine receptor CXCR4. In females, ovarian estrogens play an essential role in myelin repair. Michael Schumacher obtained his PhD in biological sciences from the University of Liège (Belgium) under the supervision of Jacques Balthazart. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Bruce S. McEwen at Rockefeller University (New York) before joining the laboratory of Etienne-Emile Baulieu in 1991 as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. He also served for ten years as Dean of the Doctoral School “Signaling and Integrated Networks in Biology” at University Paris-Saclay.