Hal Blumenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., the Mark Loughridge and Michele Williams Professor of Neurology and professor of neuroscience and of neurosurgery, has received a prestigious Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The award consists of a conditional seven-year research grant to Blumenfeld and recognizes him as scientist with “superior competence and outstanding productivity.”
This honor for Blumenfeld, who also is director of the Yale Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center, is especially meaningful because recipients do not apply for it. Investigators “with a history of exceptional talent, imagination, and preeminent scientific achievement” are nominated for Javits Awards by NINDS staff and by members of the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council, a body that advises the NINDS director.
The award will support Blumenfeld’s fundamental research to understand the causes of loss of consciousness during seizures. In particular, his work combines experimental models with high-resolution neuroimaging, electrical recordings, and behavioral testing, with a goal of yielding insights that have potential to advance patient treatment.
Congress created the Javits Awards in the Neurosciences in 1983 to honor Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York (1904-1986), who was afflicted late in life by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and advocated for research into numerous disorders of the brain and nervous system.