Sneha Girap (Editor)

Patricia Goldman Rakic

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Nationality
  
USA

Name
  
Patricia Goldman-Rakic

Institutions
  
Fields
  
Neuroscience


Alma mater
  
Vassar, UCLA

Awards
  
International Prize

Doctoral advisor
  
Wendell Jeffrey

Academic advisor
  
Wendell Jeffrey

Patricia Goldman-Rakic httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Doctoral students
  
ListR. Alison AdcockSrdjan D. AnticAmy ArnstenCarmen CavadaMatthew ChafeeChristos ConstantinidisLila DavachiAdele DiamondWen-jun GaoLeonid KrimerMary F. KritzerYuanye MaJames A. MazerSohee ParkLinda J. PorrinoEmmanuel ProcykGrazyna RajkowskaLizabeth M. RomanskiToshiyuki SawaguchiJohn F. SmileyFraser Wilson

Notable awards
  
List• National Institute of Mental Health grantee (1980–2000)• W. Alden Spencer Award, Columbia University (1982)• Krieg Cortical Discoverer Award, Cajal Club (1989)• inducted National Academy of Sciences (1990)• Fyssen Foundation Prize in Neuroscience (1990)• Lieber Prize, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (1991)• inducted American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991)• Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Award (1993)• Karl Lashley Award, American Philosophical Society (1996)• Ariens Kappers Medal, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996)• honorary doctorate, Utrecht University (2000)• Gerard Prize, Society for Neuroscience (2002)Source: Yale News:

Died
  
July 31, 2003, Hamden, Connecticut, United States

Patricia goldman rakic tribute film


Patricia Goldman-Rakic ( ; née Shoer, April 22, 1937 – July 31, 2003) was an American neuroscientist/neurobiologist known for her pioneering study of the frontal lobe and her work on the cellular basis of working memory.

Contents

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Patricia GoldmanRakic Vassar College Encyclopedia Vassar College

CWHF 2008 Annual Induction Ceremony Patricia Goldman Rakic Acceptance Speech


Education and career

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Patricia GoldmanRakic

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Goldman-Rakic earned her bachelor's degree in neurobiology from Vassar in 1959, and her doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles in Developmental Psychology in 1963. After postdoctoral positions at UCLA and New York University, she worked at the National Institute of Mental Health in neuropsychology and ultimately as chief of developmental neurobiology. She moved to Yale School of Medicine in 1979 where she remained until her death. She was The Eugene Higgins Professor of Neuroscience in the neurobiology department with joint appointments in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology.

Research

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Women Who Impacted Medicine Pat GoldmanRakic

Goldman-Rakic was the first to discover and describe the circuitry of the prefrontal cortex and its relationship to working memory. Before Goldman-Rakic, scientists thought that the higher cognitive functions of the prefrontal cortex were beyond the scope of scientific study. Goldman-Rakic's research showed that methods employed to study the sensory cortices could be adapted to the highest order prefrontal cortical areas, revealing the circuit basis for higher cognitive function. Because of Goldman-Rakic, scientists began to better understand the neurobiological basis of higher cognitive function, and of such disorders as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and dementia. She used a multidisciplinary approach, applying biochemical, electrophysiological, pharmacological, anatomical and behavioral techniques to study working memory. She pioneered the first studies of dopamine influences on prefrontal cortical function, research that is critical to our understanding of schizophrenia, ADHD and Parkinson's disease. A review of her life's work, including her special role mentoring women scientists, can be found in the journal Neuron. Goldman-Rakic was also the founder of the Cerebral Cortex Journal, a specialized publication by Oxford Press.

Patricia Goldman-Rakic The Biology of Memory Vassar the Alumnaei Quarterly

Early on in her career, Goldman-Rakic's studied the capacity of the brain to repair itself in early development, and was one of the first to use radioactive tracers to examine this phenomenon.

Personal life

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Patricia GoldmanRakic Mapping the Prefrontal Cortex

Goldman-Rakic had two sisters—her twin Ruth Rappaport and younger sister Linda Shoer—both of whom earned PhDs in science. Goldman-Rakic was married to Pasko Rakic, also a neuroscientist.

Death

Patricia Goldman-Rakic CWHF 2008 Annual Induction Ceremony Patricia Goldman Rakic

On July 29, 2003, Goldman-Rakic was struck by a car while crossing a street in Hamden, Connecticut. She died two days later, on July 31 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Goldman-Rakic was 66 years old. She is buried in Grove Street Cemetery.

Awards

Goldman-Rakic received the following honors:

References

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Wikipedia