Learning & the Brain presented Dr. Fumiko Hoeft from the University of California, San Francisco with the “2015 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award” for her contributions to bridging the gap between brain research and classroom practice during the Learning & the Brain educational conference in Boston, MA..
Learning & the Brain presented Dr. Fumiko Hoeft from the University of California, San Francisco with the “2015 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award” this past Sunday. Dr. Hoeft is a groundbreaking researcher whose research lies at the intersection of education and cognitive neuroscience was awarded the eighth annual prize for “Transforming Education Through Neuroscience.” The $2,500 award was established to honor individuals who represent excellence in bridging neuroscience and education and is funded by the Learning & the Brain Foundation.
Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD, is being honored for her work on learning difficulties and social-emotional learning. Dr. Hoeft received her Doctorate in Medicine and Neurophysiology from Keio University in Tokyo in 2003 and did her post-doctoral work in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at Stanford University under neuroscientist John Gabrieli. Now at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Dr. Hoeft is an Associate Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Director of the UCSF Hoeft Laboratory for Educational Neuroscience (brainLENS.org), and a member of the Advisory Board of the Bay Area’s Center for Childhood Creativity.
Dr. Hoeft uses neuroimaging, behavioral tools and demographic data in her research to further the understanding of the brain mechanisms behind neurodevelopmental conditions such as dyslexia and autism and educationally relevant concepts such as resilience and motivation. Much of her current research examines the interplay between genetic and environmental factors and how they influence the development of language and reading skills. Not only does she hope to help identify the most effective classroom practices and interventions for early reading education but to promote the importance of integrating education and neuroscience.
According to MIT’s John Gabrieli, “Fumiko Hoeft has made seminal discoveries about the brain basis of dyslexia that have important implications for educating children with dyslexia. Her incisive experiments have revealed neurobiological evidence relevant for etiology, diagnosis and prognosis in dyslexia.”
“As the 2015 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award recipient, Fumiko Hoeft, is now recognized as one of the most talented and deserving scientists working today within the emerging discipline of neuroeducation,” according to Dr. Kenneth Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a co-founder of the Learning & the Brain® conference. “Her distinguished stature among both neuroscientists and educators demonstrates her remarkable ability to synthesize these two disciplines. She has created within the interface a novel and unmistakable intellectual force for unity between neuroscience and education.”
David B. Daniel, PhD, Professor of Psychology at James Madison University and the 2013 winner of the award, also had praise for the new recipient. “Dr. Hoeft’s work is a wonderful example of how innovative design in neuroscience can be used to complement, challenge and extend psychological and educational explanations of important issues.”
Dr. Daniel presented the prize to Dr. Hoeft at the upcoming Learning & the Brain® educational conference in Boston, MA on Sunday, November 15, held at the Westin Copley Hotel. The Learning & the Brain® Foundation wishes Dr. Hoeft our heartiest congratulations.
