Toronto, May 21 2013 - The Canadian Association for Neuroscience is proud to announce Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum, from York University, has received the CAN 2013 Young Investigator Award at the opening ceremony of 7th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting.
Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum is a renowned expert in the area of Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory. As a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Neuropsychologist, she combines brain imaging techniques with cognitive methods to study the neural bases of learning and memory in patients with memory impairment. Her work, and unique perspective, has allowed her to further our understanding of the different forms of memory and how these are represented in the brain, of the effects of specific brain injuries on learning and memory, and of the social and personal effects of amnesia. She is also examining strategies that may be used by amnesic patients to compensate for the changes in the way their brains work.
Dr. Rosenbaum’s publication track record demonstrates the importance of her research contributions. She has authored 40 publications, published or in press, many in prestigious journals such as Science or Nature Neuroscience. Twenty of these publications were produced in the last three years alone. Her work has gained media attention from many of the top news sources from Canada (CBC News, CTV, Toronto Star and National Post) and the USA (USA Today and The New York Times). She has also served as expert commentator for the journal Nature, CBC radio, The Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail, further highlighting her capacity to explain the complex nature of memory formation to the public. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Sloan Research Fellow in Neuroscience. The Sloan award has been an excellent predictor of research superstars in Canada and the USA.
Dr. Rosenbaum's research laboratory is investigating how memories acquired long ago are represented in the brain, how different types of memories change when normal brain function is disrupted, and how to detect and manage these changes with compensatory strategies. Damage to the hippocampus results in severe amnesia (loss of memory) but there is controversy surrounding the specific types of memory that are compromised. Dr. Rosenbaum's research is focused on resolving some of these controversies and is specifically addressing the following questions: What is the role of the hippocampus and other memory structures in storing and retrieving very old memories? For example, is the hippocampus always necessary for re-experiencing the details of personal life events? How is spatial memory related to memory for personal events and for facts? How does reconstructing past personal episodes relate to non-mnemonic abilities, such as imagining events that have never occurred, deciphering other people's current mental states, and making decisions about the future? Recent work focuses on identifying potential compensatory brain networks and developing novel methods that capitalize on patients' intact areas of cognitive function. Methods of investigation include sensitive cognitive measures combined with high-resolution structural and functional MRI of healthy and neurological patient populations. Her research has provided a framework for understanding how memory is organized in the brain and the efficacy of intervention techniques when memory declines or fails.
A full profile of Dr. Rosenbaum including references to her most representatives research publications can be found on the Canadian Association for Neuroscience website, at http://can-acn.org/shayna-rosenbaum-is-the-2013-can-young-investigator-awardee.
The seventh Annual Canadian Neuroscience meeting takes place May 20-24 2013 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto.
Please contact Julie Poupart, Communications Director for the Canadian Association for Neuroscience at info@can-can.org for more information about the Young Investigator Award and the 7th Annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting. More information about the meeting at: http://www.can-acn.org/meeting2013/.