Purves Named Head of Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
Center is at the heart of Duke University's major strategic initiative in neuroscience research
DURHAM, N.C. -- Dale Purves, former chair of the medical center Department of Neurobiology, has been named director of the Duke Center for Cognitive Neuroscience which aims to understand how the hundred billion or so neurons in the human brain produce the mental abilities that constitute the mind.
The center is among the university's major initiatives in brain science, drawing on the resources of both the campus and medical center at Duke to produce advances in understanding the relationship of mind, brain and behavior.
Purves, who headed the neurobiology department for more than ten years, is the George Barth Geller Professor for Research in Neurobiology and a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. His most recent research has yielded new theories about how humans and other animals perceive the visual and auditory world, and about how their brains are organized.P>
"Dale Purves is among the most prominent and talented neurobiologists in the field, and his leadership of the department of neurobiology helped make it among the best in the nation," said Provost Peter Lange. "It is particularly gratifying that he has now agreed to lead the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, where we expect the same kinds of important scientific advances that have distinguished Dale's career. He will have significant resources under his control, and I anticipate he will make the center an outstanding place for research and teaching on the brain."
Said Purves "The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience exemplifies Duke's strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and scholarship -- aiming to attract faculty from a broad range of departments to explore the highest levels of brain function. I'm very pleased that I'll be able to help encourage this diverse collaboration.
"The center already boasts a remarkable cadre of talented young faculty, and I look forward to helping foster their professional and scientific progress," said Purves. In particular, said Purves, he will emphasize maintaining and enhancing the research relationships between the center and such important Duke resources as the medical center's Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, and relationships with other departments such as neurobiology, computer science and philosophy.
The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience currently includes a core of faculty with appointments in the departments of psychological and brain sciences, neurobiology, and biomedical engineering. In addition, the center includes faculty fellows from the departments of philosophy, psychiatry and brain sciences, medical psychology, medicine (neurology), surgery, psychology: social and health sciences, and statistics and decision sciences.
Research by the center's core faculty includes efforts to understand how the human brain enables humans to understand language, pay attention, grasp numbers, and store emotion-laden memories.
Purves received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. After his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School and University College London, he joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine. He came to Duke in 1990 as George Barth Geller Professor and chair of neurobiology. Since 1996, he has also held a professorship in the department of psychological and brain sciences.
He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.