The MSTP Distinguished Lecture Series is proud to announce our next speaker, Dr. Michael Halassa, MD, PhD, who is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the McGowen Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Talk Title: Networks Underlying Cognitive Control and Flexibility
When: Thursday, November 21st, 2019
Where: Tamkin Auditorium F110, with reception to follow
Dr. Halassa uses his experiences as a psychiatrist to draw questions that he investigates as a neuroscientist to better understand psychiatric disorders. He is looking to deepen our understanding of how the brain produces cognition, attention, and decision-making and of what key changes occurs in these processes with disorders he sees routinely in the hospital. Recently, he found that the thalamus, which has long been taught as a passive sensory relay point, also plays an active role in initiating, sustaining, and switching between cognitive representations. Alterations of this newly found thalamic process leads to behavioral changes characteristic with ADD and ADHD. As a psychiatrist, Dr. Halassa sees a broad range of different psychiatric disorders, and more than anything, he deeply wants to understand the mind of his patients and hopefully find ways he can better care for them.
For faculty interested in meeting with Dr. Halassa during his visit, please contact John Hong (johnh11@hs.uci.edu) to arrange a meeting.
