Candidates – CAN Board of Directors election, April 2018
Matthew Hill Matthew Hill is an Associate Professor at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary, where his lab primarily focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms by which stress produces the development of anxiety and fear, with a particular emphasis on the importance of the endocannabinoid signaling. Since starting his lab in 2011, Matthew has been author/co-author on over 45 manuscripts, in journals such as Journal of Neuroscience, PNAS and Neuron, many of which have helped to delineate the mechanisms and circuits through which endocannabinoid signaling modulates stress reactivity and emotional behavior. Matthew was the recipient of the CAN Young Investigator Award in 2016, has been elected as a member to the Royal Society of Canada and has been highly active in the research community being the past president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, the recently elected Vice Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Cannabinoids in the CNS and is the chairing and organizing the upcoming Stress Neurobiology Workshop with Jaideep Bains. |
Soheila Karimi Dr. Soheila Karimi has dedicated her career to neuroscience research with a long-standing interest in spinal cord regeneration. Soheila is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, and a member of the Regenerative Medicine Program and Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Manitoba. Soheila directs a productive research program that focuses on therapeutic development for spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. Impact of her research is evident as there is currently an unmet need for effective therapies for these devastating conditions. In addition to her research, Soheila has been passionately involved in outreach activities to promote neuroscience research in Canada, and increase public awareness on advances in spinal cord injury, MS and stem cells therapies. View Soheila Karimi’s CV |
Majid Mohajerani Majid H. Mohajerani, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge with a research focus on neural dynamics with particular emphasis on sensorimotor integration and memory systems. He combines optical imaging, electrophysiology, behavioural methods and computational tools to study how different brain areas communicate with one another and how (a) memory is encoded and consolidated or (b) motor movement are generated based on sensory inputs. |
Steven A. Prescott Raised in Vancouver and trained in Montreal, Steve Prescott now calls Toronto home (after trying science south of the border). His lab at SickKids studies neural coding by combining computational modeling with experimental techniques including electrophysiology, optogenetics, and calcium imaging. Having benefited immensely from CAN activities over the last 12 years, he figures it’s time to give back, and to help represent Toronto and computational neuroscience – neither of which are currently well represented – on the CAN Board. View Steven Prescott’s CV |
Blake Richards Dr. Blake Richards is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and a Fellow in the Learning in Machines and Brains Program with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Dr. Richards’ laboratory studies the learning algorithms of the brain, using a combination of experimental techniques and computational modelling. He has worked hard as an advocate for fundamental science funding in Canada, organizing meetings with MPs and promoting letter writing campaigns. He also participated in a roundtable with the Federal Finance Minister and Science Minister in December 2017, where he advocated for more open-program tri-council funding in order to help early-career researchers and promote diversity. View Blake Richard’s CV |
Susanne Schmid Susanne Schmid is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario and studies sensory processing, filtering, and sensorimotor gating mechanisms in health and in animal models for neurodevelopmental disorders (see theschmidlab.com). She is the Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Director of the interdisciplinary Neuroscience Graduate Program at Western, and the past President of the Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association (a regional SFN chapter). Dr. Schmid has been very active at Science outreach events and she is a tireless advocate for investigator initiated research funding. |
Weihong Song Dr. Weihong Song, MD/PhD, is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease and Professor at the UBC Department of Psychiatry. He is also the Associate Director of Institute of Mental Health and the Head of Basic Neuroscience Division. He serves as the Senior Advisor to the President on China at UBC, and a member of the Institute Advisory Board of CIHR Institute of Aging. Dr. Song was elected to Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2012. View Weihong Song’s CV |
