Erich Jarvis

Erich Jarvis is an American professor at The Rockefeller University. He leads a team of researchers who study the neurobiology of vocal learning, a critical behavioral substrate for spoken language. The animal models he studies include songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds. Like humans, these bird groups have the ability to learn new sounds and pass on their vocal repertoires culturally, from one generation to the next. Jarvis focuses on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned vocalizations, and the development of brain circuits for vocal learning. To accomplish this objective, Dr. Jarvis takes an integrative approach to research, combining behavioral, anatomical, electrophysiological, molecular biological, and genomic techniques. The discoveries of Dr. Jarvis and his collaborators include the first findings of natural behaviorally regulated gene expression in the brain, social context dependent gene regulation, convergent vocal learning systems across distantly related animal groups, the FOXP2 gene in vocal learning birds, and the finding that vocal learning systems may have evolved out of ancient motor learning systems.

Contents

• Erich jarvis duke hhmi part 1 convergent behavior and brain pathways
• Erich jarvis duke hhmi part 3 genes specialized in vocal learning circuits
• Awards and honors
• References

In 2002, the National Science Foundation awarded Jarvis its highest honor for a young researcher, the Alan T. Waterman Award. In 2005 he was awarded the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award providing funding for five years to researchers pursuing innovative approaches to biomedical research. In 2008 Dr. Jarvis was selected to the prestigious position of Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Jarvis was an associate professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center until he moved to Rockefeller in December 2016.

Jarvis received a B.A. from Hunter College and a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University under Dr. Fernando Nottebohm.

Awards and honors

1986 First Place Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, NIH-MBRS Annual Symposium

2000 Esther & Joseph Klingenstein Award in Neuroscience

2000 Whitehall Foundation Award in Neuroscience

2000 David and Lucille Packard Foundation Award

2001 Duke University Provost Bioinformatic Award

2002 Duke University Provost Computational Biology Award

2002 Hall of Fame: Alumni Association of Hunter College

2002 Human Frontiers in Science Program Young Investigators Award

2002 NSF Alan T. Waterman Award. NSF’s highest award for young investigators given annually to one scientist or engineer who under the age of 35 made a significant discovery/impact in science. Awarded for molecular approach and findings to map brain areas involved in behavior.

2003 The 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award of the City University of New York

2005 Dominion Award: Strong Men and Women of Excellence: African American Leaders. Prior awardees include Arthur Ash, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Jordan.

2005 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award

2006 Discover magazine top 100 science discoveries of 2005; avian brain nomenclature listed at #51

2006 Diverse magazine’s top 10 emerging scholars of 2006

2008 HHMI Investigator Award