Cognitive Neuroscience

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
• Principal Investigator: Diamond Lab of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, University of British Columbia
• Canada Research Chair Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2004-), University of British Columbia
• Head, Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia (2008-)
• Faculty member at University of British Columbia since Sept, 2004

EDUCATION:
• 1975 BA, Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology, Swarthmore College
• 1983 PhD, Psychology and Social Relations Department, Harvard University
• 1982-1985 Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroanatomy, Yale University School of Medicine (Laboratory of Patricia Goldman-Rakic)

MEMBERSHIPS:
• Founding Fellow, Institute of Mental Health, University of British Columbia (2006-)
• Member, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Undergraduate Program in Cognitive Systems, The Brain Research Centre, The Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), Child and Family Research Institute (2004-)
• American Association of University Professors
• American. Association of University Women
• American Psychological Association (APA): Division 1: General; Division 3: Experimental Psychology; Division 6: Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psychology (Fellow since 1997); Division 7: Developmental Psychology (Fellow since 1993); Division 9: Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI); Division 27: Society for Community Research and Action - Community Psychology; Division 32: Humanistic Psychology; Division 40: Clinical Neuropsychology
• Association for Psychological Science (APS; previously, Am Psychological Society) (Charter Member & Fellow)
• American Sociological Association
• Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS)
• Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)
• Cognitive Development Society (Executive Board Member thru 2010)
• Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS)
• Human Brain Mapping Organization
• International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)
• International Society for Research in Child & Adolescent Psychopathology
• International Neuropsychological Society (INS) (Governing Board Member thru 2008)
• International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS)
• Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society
• Memory Disorders Research Society
• Psychonomic Society
• Royal Society of Canada (RSC) Fellow since 2009
• Sigma Xi
• Society for Behavioral & Cognitive Neurology
• Society for Canadian Women in Science & Technology
• Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP)
• Society for Neuroscience
• Society for Research in Aging
• Society for Research in Child Development

AWARDS:
Recipient, Inaugural Distinguished Achievement Award for Service to the University and Community, awarded by the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (2009).

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society of Experimental Psychologists.

She received a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 2009 and in 2001 was named one of the '2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century'. Her work has been featured on the Public Television series, Scientific American Frontiers Series with Alan Alda, and on the Public Broadcasting Show, On Being with Krista Tippett, and in articles in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune & the Vancouver Sun. A recipient of many awards, she was named a Distinguished Scientific Lecturer by the American Psychological Association and has received a Canada Fund for Innovation Award.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Adele Diamond helped found the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience. For over 30 years, Professor Diamond has been studying the region of the brain (prefrontal cortex) devoted to the most complex human abilities. Those abilities are collectively referred to as 'executive functions’ and include attention, self-control, reasoning, and problem-solving). Her lab integrates behavioral, neuroanatomical, and molecular genetic approaches to study how executive functions can be modified by the environment, modulated by genetics and neurochemistry, become derailed in certain disorders, effective interventions and ways to prevent disorders, and educational implications.

Her work has led to worldwide improvements in medical treatment for a genetic disorder (phenylketonuria [PKU]), and for the inattentive type of ADHD, thereby improving thousands of children's lives. Her current research is changing our understanding of the prefrontal dopamine system and of gender differences in that, and affecting early education practices about the possibility of intervening early to improve executive functions to head off mental health and academic problems.

Adele Diamond created and organizes a popular biennial conference on 'Brain Development and Learning', that brings together people from all corners of the globe who work directly with children (such as educators, clinicians, and parents) to learn about the latest scientific discoveries in ways they can understand and use.

Most recently she has turned her attention to the possible roles of play, the arts, dance, storytelling, and physical activity in improving executive functions and academic and mental health outcomes. What nourishes the human spirit, it appears, may also be best for executive functions.