Cold Spring Harbor, NY — Anne Churchland, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), has been honored with two awards. Today, she was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. She has also received a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in the Neurosciences from the Simons Foundation and the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund.
Churchland, who joined the CSHL faculty in 2010, studies how neurons in the brain control decision-making, using this as a window into the complex pathways that underlie cognition. Churchland employs an interdisciplinary approach, combining neuroimaging, molecular genetics, animal behavior and computational analysis, to map the neural circuits that are involved in decision-making. Her work aims to understand how sensory information—what we see, hear, and feel—is stored and interpreted by neurons in the brain. Such research will offer significant insight into mental disorders where these processes are disrupted, such as autism and schizophrenia.
“I join with the faculty of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in congratulating Dr. Anne Churchland,” said Dr. Bruce Stillman, CSHL’s President and CEO. “Her creative and inventive approaches to neuroscience bring great credit to CSHL.”
Launched in 1985, the Pew Scholars Program seeks to fund early career scientists—particularly young researchers with novel methods and ideas. The awardees are selected for their proven creativity by a national committee of eminent scientists.
As one of the 22 Pew Scholars selected this year, Churchland will receive funding over four years to help spur innovation at this early point in her independent research career.
For the first time, the Simons Foundation and the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund have joined together to fund young investigators in neuroscience research. The joint venture aims to advance cutting-edge research so that early career scientists can explore higher risk, and potentially higher reward, science. Churchland is one of 12 recipients this year, each of whom will receive $75,000 annually for three years.
Written by: Jaclyn Jansen, Science Writer | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455