Mark S. Cohen

Mark S. Cohen. He is a prominent American neuroscientist recognized for his pioneering methodological advancements in human brain mapping and functional neuroimaging. A professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, his work has been instrumental in developing and refining techniques for fMRI, significantly influencing the field of cognitive neuroscience. His research spans the study of brain connectivity, resting state fMRI, and real-time neurofeedback, with applications in understanding both typical brain function and disorders in psychiatry.

Biography

He earned his undergraduate degree from the UC Berkeley before completing a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the UC San Diego, where he trained under leading figures in the early days of cognitive science. Following his doctoral work, he pursued postdoctoral research at the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research, further immersing himself in the emerging technologies of brain imaging. He subsequently joined the faculty at UCLA, where he became a central figure in the UCLA Brain Mapping Center and the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.

Academic and research career

He holds a professorship in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, the UCLA Department of Psychology, and the UCLA Department of Biomedical Physics. He is the founding director of the UCLA Neuroengineering Training Program, an initiative designed to bridge engineering and neuroscience. For many years, he served as the technical director of the UCLA Brain Mapping Center, a core facility that supports neuroimaging research for scientists across the University of California system and internationally. In this role, he has collaborated extensively with researchers like Susan Bookheimer and Marco Iacoboni on studies involving brain plasticity and social neuroscience.

Scientific contributions

His methodological innovations have fundamentally shaped modern fMRI practice. He made critical early contributions to the development of echo-planar imaging, a rapid MRI technique essential for capturing brain activity. He pioneered the use of blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast for functional brain mapping, a standard in the field. His laboratory has been at the forefront of researching intrinsic brain activity and functional connectivity, exploring networks like the default mode network. Furthermore, he developed some of the first systems for real-time fMRI and neurofeedback, enabling novel experimental paradigms and potential therapeutic interventions for conditions studied in clinical neuroscience.

Awards and honors

In recognition of his substantial contributions, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in American scientific research. He is also an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His work has been consistently supported by major grants from the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. He has received prestigious awards such as the Innovator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD).

Selected publications

His influential body of work includes seminal papers that have become standard references in neuroimaging. Key publications often involve studies on the hemodynamic response and the physiological basis of the BOLD signal, co-authored with experts like David Heeger. He has published extensively on resting-state functional connectivity in journals such as PNAS and NeuroImage. His research on real-time fMRI and its application in neurofeedback training for modulating brain networks has appeared in Nature Neuroscience and Brain Connectivity.

Category:American neuroscientists Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:Living people