Linda Richards, AO, FAA, FAHMS, PhD

Linda Richards, AO, FAA, FAHMS, PhD

Edison Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience Director, McDonnell Center for Cellular & Molecular Neurobiology

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Edison Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience
Director, McDonnell Center for Cellular & Molecular Neurobiology

Professor Linda Richards joined Washington University in St. Louis as the Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and the Edison Professor of Neurobiology on January 1, 2021. Before joining WashU, she was the Deputy Director (Research) at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, Australia. During her tenure at QBI, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to medical research and education in the field of developmental neurobiology, and to science and community engagement in science”, was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAAS), and appointed a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS).

The research in her lab focuses on how the brain becomes wired during development. Particular emphasis is on the corpus callosum, specifically with regards to the development, plasticity, and function of the long-range connections of the cerebral cortex. In placental animals, the corpus callosum, which is the largest fiber tract in the brain, connects both cortical hemispheres. The lab is interested in how cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms regulate brain wiring during typical development, as well as in congenital corpus callosum dysgenesis (CCD). CCD can result in profound changes in the structural architecture of brain connectivity, and the lab is interested in investigating the underlying causes of CCD, how long-range plasticity occurs, and how the changes in brain wiring impacts cognition and behavior.

Prof. Richards is also passionate about scientific outreach. She has planned and established nation- and global-wide brain initiatives to help society better understand the role of the brain and nervous system. She helped establish the International Brain Initiative, the Australian Brain Alliance, the Australian Brain Bee Challenge, and is a member of the International Brain Bee and Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT

  • 2015: Deputy Director of Research, QBI
  • 2010-2020: Professor, Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2005-2010: Associate Professor, Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2002-2005: Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
  • 1997-2002:  Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
  • 1995-1997: Postdoctoral Fellow, the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, San Diego, CA, laboratory of Dennis O’Leary
  • 1995: PhD, The University of Melbourne, laboratory of Perry Bartlett
  • 1990: BS (Honours), Monash University and The University of Melbourne, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research

AWARDS & HONORS