The Iowa Neuroscience Institute collaborates with several departments in hosting named lectureships each year.
The annual Andreasen lecture, established by the UI Department of Psychiatry in 2018, honors Nancy C. Andreasen, MD, PhD, UI professor of psychiatry, an internationally recognized neuroscientist and a leader in the field of schizophrenia research.
Andreasen pioneered the use of neuroimaging techniques to study brain abnormalities in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. When MRI became available during the mid-1980s, her lab was the first to conduct research showing brain changes in the two disorders using the new technology.
Among her many awards, Andreasen received the National Medal of Science in 2000 and the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Scientific Research Award in 2012. She was also inducted into the National Academy of Medicine for her work in schizophrenia. Andreasen has written several well-known books, including The Broken Brain and Brave New Brain, and is the former editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Andreasen Lecturers, 2018-present
2023: “Pathways to Psychosis in Clinical and Genetic High Risk Youth”
Carrie Bearden, PhD
Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences & Psychology
Director, Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal States
University of California, Los Angeles
2022: “Unique Molecular Regulation of Prefrontal Cortex Confers Vulnerability to Cognitive Disorders”
Amy Arnsten, PhD
Albert E. Kent Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Psychology
Member, Kavli Institute of Neuroscience
Yale University
2022 (rescheduled from May 2020): “Drug relapse is mediated by 4th dimensional plasticity”
Peter Kalivas, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
Medical University of South Carolina
2018: “Immune mechanisms of synapse loss: Implications for psychiatric illness.”
Beth Stevens, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School
The Ralph H. and Freda E. Ojemann Visiting Professorship is an endowed fund established to bring distinguished speakers to the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. The professorship rotates annually among the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. The three Ojemann children created the professorship through a memorial gift. Their intent is to reinforce the interdisciplinary ideals for education and research held by their father who was a faculty member at the University of Iowa from 1929 to 1965.
Ojemann Lecturers, 2017-present
2023: “A New Generation of Therapies in Psychiatry”
Nolan Williams, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medical School
Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, Director of Psychedelics Division, University of California San Francisco
Mark Niciu, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Iowa
Jing Jiang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry University of Iowa
2022
"Responsive nucleus accumbens deep brain stimulation restores eating control in severe obesity"
Casey Halpern, MD, Chief and Functional Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania
"What do experiments in mice predict about interoceptive functions in the human brain?"
Joel Geerling, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology., University of Iowa
"Leveraging Surgery to Probe the Human Prefrontal Cortex"
Jeremy Greenlee, MD, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa
"Lesion Symptom Mapping of Depressive Symptoms: Identifying Candidate Neuromodulation Targets for Disorders of Mood and Appetite"
Nicholas Trapp, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Iowa
2019
"The Evolution of Surgery for Epilepsy"
Dennis Spencer, MD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor and Senior Research Scientist of Neurosurgery; Director Epilepsy Research, Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine
"Next Generation 7T Brain Scanner for High Resolution Imaging"
David A. Feinberg, PhD, MD, Hellen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley
"SUDEP: Why it is Finally Time to Recognize that Breathing is a Neurological Function"
George Richerson, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa
"A Site in the Human Amygdala that Inhibits Respiration and Elicits Apnea During Seizures in Epilepsy"
Brian Dlouhy, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa
2017: " Cognitive Aspects of Cerebellar Function"
Jeremy D. Schmahmann, MD Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Andre Machado, MD, PhD Chairman, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic
Krystal Parker, PhD Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Iowa
Nandakumar Narayanan, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Iow
The Spence Lecture Series honors the legacy of Kenneth W. Spence, prominent learning theorist and chair of the department from 1942-1964. This series, which is supported by the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, brings leaders in the field of behavioral neuroscience to our campus each year.
Spences Lecturers, 2019-present
2023: “The Neurophysiology of recommitment to Avoid Sunk Costs: Evidence From Mice, Rats, and Humans”
David Redish, PhD
Distinguished McKnight University Professor
Department of Neuroscience
University of Minnesota
2019: “Liking and Wanting in the Brain”
Kent Berridge, PhD
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of Michigan
William Talman, MD, Lecture on Basic Neuroscience in Clinical Neurology
Dr. William Talman retired from the University of Iowa in March 2017, after 33 years as a faculty member in the Department of Neurology. His clinical specialty was autonomic disorders. The annual “William Talman, MD, Lecture on Basic Neuroscience in Clinical Neurology” was established in 2017 in Dr. Talman’s honor through the Iowa Neuroscience Institute.
Talman Lecturers, 2019-present
2023: "Identification and Characterization of Phospholipase C Gamma 2 (PLCG2) as a Novel Therapeutic Target for Alzheimer’s Disease"
Bruce Lamb, PhD
Executive Director, Stark Neurosciences Research Institute
Indiana University
2019: "Chasing Men on Fire: Huxley’s Science Fiction, Pain Genes, and Pain Resilience Genes"
Stephen G. Waxman, MD, PhD
Bridget Marie Flaherty Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology
Director, Center for Neuroscience & Regeneration/ Neurorehabilitation Research
Yale University School of Medicine and VA Connecticut