Francisco Aboitiz
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Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles
Francisco Aboitiz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Francisco Javier Aboitiz Dominguez |
| Occupations | Neuroscientist, author and academic |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Licenciatura En Biología, Universidad de Chile Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Pontificia Universidad Católica (PUC) de Chile |
Francisco Aboitiz is a Chilean neuroscientist, academic, and author. He is a professor at the Medical School and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience NeuroUC at Pontificia Universidad Católica (PUC) de Chile.[1]
Aboitiz's research spans comparative neuroanatomy, focusing on interhemispheric connections and brain asymmetries, the evolution of the cerebral cortex and language networks, cognitive functions in neuropsychiatric conditions (including ADHD, ASD, and schizophrenia) mainly using high-density EEG and brain imaging, and cognitive mechanisms studied through intracranial recordings in epilepsy patients. He has authored and edited more than 140 scientific articles[2][3] and several books including From Attention to Goal-Directed Behavior: Neurodynamical, methodological and clinical trends, coauthored with Diego Cosmelli, and A Brain for Speech: A view from Evolutionary Neuroanatomy.[4] His forthcoming book, A History of Bodies, Brains and Minds. The evolution of life and consciousness, is to be published in September 2024.[5]
Aboitiz pursued higher education at the Universidad de Chile (UCh), earning a Licenciatura en Biología in 1983, with professors Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.[6] Following this, he continued his studies and obtained a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1991, tutored by Eran Zaidel and Arnold Scheibel.[7]
Career
Aboitiz's career started as a Research Fellow at the Beth Israel Hospital of Harvard Medical School, working in Norman Geschwind's and Albert Galaburda's laboratory, from 1983 to 1985, studying the neurological bases of language and developmental dyslexia.[8] From 1985 to 1991, he pursued his Ph.D. at UCLA. Then, he held a postdoctoral position at Robin Fisher's laboratory at the Mental Retardation Research Center of UCLA, from 1991 to 1992. After this, he returned to Chile and served as a professor at the Medical School of Universidad de Chile (UCh) from 1992 until 2002, where he became director of the Morphology Department at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences of the Medical School at UCh. Since 2002, he has been appointed as a professor at the Psychiatry Department of the Medical School of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC).[1]
Between 2002 and 2006, Aboitiz participated as sub-director of the Millennium Center for Integrative Neuroscience, CENI, under the Millennium Scientific Initiative Program (ICM) promoted by the Chilean government. In 2009, he created and has been the current director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience NeuroUC.[9][10]
In 2010, Aboitiz developed the Neuroscience Ph.D. Program at PUC. In 2011, he was awarded as Director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Memory, CENEM, one of the seven new Millennium Scientific Nuclei.[11] He holds the position of the Principal Investigator at the Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Evolutiva (LANCE),[12] where he has directed more than 20 Ph.D. theses.