Gillian Einstein

Last updated
Gillian Einstein
BornJune 1952
New York City
NationalityAmerican, Canadian
Alma mater Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania
Scientific career
Fields Neuroscience specializing in women's health
Institutions Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Thesis The Pattern of Synaptic Input from the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus to Layer IV, Area 17 of the Cat
Academic advisors Peter Sterling
Website Official website
Notes
Distant cousin of Albert Einstein

Gillian Einstein is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, [1] and cross-appointed with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She holds the inaugural Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women's Brain Health and Aging. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Einstein was born in New York City, US. [3] As her father was a member of the U.S. Air Force, her family moved between New York City, Texas and Massachusetts. [4] She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in the History of Art at Harvard University. [1] Einstein then earned her PhD in 1984, working on neuroanatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. [1] [5]

Research and career

Einstein in 2015 speaking on the importance of SABV in preclinical research.

Einstein joined Duke University in 1989 as an assistant professor and moved to the Centre for Research on Women's Health at Women's College Hospital in 2004. [4]

In 2006, Einstein established the University of Toronto’s Collaborative Graduate Program in Women's Health (now known as the Collaborative Specialization in Women's Health). [6] [7] This program is based at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and is affiliated with the Women's College Research Institute (based at the Women's College Hospital). Einstein led the program as a Director from 2006 to 2016. [6]

In 2007, Einstein edited Sex and the Brain for MIT Press. [8]

Einstein's work is focussed on women's health, specifically, the anatomy of the female brain. [4] With 72% of Canadian Alzheimer's sufferers being represented by women, Einstein explores why brain disorders like Alzheimer's disproportionately affect women. [9] Einstein's research looks at the relationship between early menopause and decreased estrogen levels, and how this may negatively affect cognition. [10] [11] Further to the differences that gender may play on the human brain, Einstein further posits that the social and cultural context that accompanies being female or male can also have a significant effect on our biology. [4] [10]

Einstein has been outspoken on the subject of gender disparity in clinical health research. She participated in the scientific discussion that led to the US National Institutes of Health to form policies requiring even gender distribution in cell and animal studies. [4]

In 2016, Einstein was awarded the inaugural Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women's Brain Health and Aging. [2] [12] This chair is supported through the Wilfred Posluns' Family Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Alzheimer Society of Canada, and the Ontario Brain Institute. [13]

Personal life

Gillian Einstein is a distant cousin of Albert Einstein. [9]

Related Research Articles

Joseph Louis Rotman was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. Rotman was the founder, benefactor and member of organizations such as the Clairvest Group Inc., the Rotman Research Institute, the Rotman School of Management, and the Rotman Institute of Philosophy. Throughout his life, he received three honorary degrees, as well as an induction into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. He is well-regarded for donating his time and financial assistance to numerous philanthropic causes including the arts, education and healthcare.

Peter Henry St George-Hyslop is a British and Canadian medical scientist, neurologist and molecular geneticist who is known for his research into neurodegenerative diseases. St George-Hyslop is one of the most cited authors in the field of Alzheimer's disease research. He has identified a number of key genes that are responsible for nerve cell degeneration and early-onset forms of Alzheimer's disease. These include the discovery of the presenilins, Nicastrin, TREM2, Apolipoprotein E and SORL1 genes. Presenilin mutations are the most common cause of familial Alzheimer's disease. St George-Hyslop also co-led the discovery of the gene for the amyloid precursor protein.

Dr. Abdallah Daar is an emeritus Professor of Clinical Public Health, Global Health, and Surgery at the University of Toronto. He has also been a Senior Scientist at the Research Institutes of University Health Network/Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, and the Hospital for SickKids. At the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, from 2001 to 2007, he was the co-director of the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, and the Director of the University of Toronto Program in Applied Ethics and Biotechnology. At the Sandra Rotman Centre, he was Director of Ethics and Commercialization.

Aubrey Tingle is professor emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and chair of the board of directors at the Maternal, Infant, Child and Youth Research Network. In March 2001, Tingle was appointed the first president and CEO of The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR).

Prabhat Jha is an Indian-Canadian epidemiologist currently working in the field of global health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine Chambers</span> Canadian psychologist

Christine Therese Chambers is a Canadian clinical psychologist at Dalhousie University. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Children's Pain.

Colleen M. Flood is the Dean of Queen's University Faculty of Law.

Dana Philpott is a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto.

Maria Natashini "Natasha" Rajah is a Canadian neuroscientist who is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University. Prior to joining Toronto Metropolitan University in August 2023, she was Full Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University from 2005 to July 2023, and was the inaugural Scientific Director of the Cerebral Imaging Center (CIC) at the Douglas Research Centre from 2011 to 2021. She is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in episodic memory, ageing and dementia. Her research uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how sex, gender, and social determinants of health interact with age and affect the neural networks responsible for episodic memory encoding and retrieval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Woodgett</span> British-born Researcher

James (Jim) Woodgett is a British-born biologist and the Principal Investigator of an active research laboratory at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the Koffler Director of Research at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute from November 2005 to January 2021.

Carole Anne Estabrooks is a Canadian applied health services researcher. She is a Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Translation and a professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. She has been listed amongst the highest cited researchers in her field and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2016.

Liisa Ann Margaret Galea is a Canadian neuroscientist who is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. She is a member of the Centre for Brain Health and Director of the Graduate Programme in Neuroscience. Her research considers the impact of hormones on brain health and behaviour.

Barbara Ellen Gibson is a Canadian physiotherapist. In 2016, she was elected to the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.

Rebecca Jane Rylett is a Canadian molecular neurobiologist. As of 2019, she is the Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Aging. As a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Rylett also served as an Associate Dean in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.

Simone Natalie Vigod is a Canadian scientist, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Women's College Hospital and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She focuses her research on perinatal mood disorders and has conducted some of the largest studies worldwide on maternal mental illness around the time of pregnancy.

Lynn Posluns is the founder and president of Women’s Brain Health Initiative in Canada. In 2021, Posluns was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for "her contributions to research on women’s cognitive health and aging through the founding of Women’s Brain Health Initiative."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gelareh Zadeh</span> Iranian-Canadian physician

Gelareh Zadeh is an Iranian-Canadian neurosurgeon who is a professor and the Dan Family Chair in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. She is a neurosurgeon-scientist at Toronto Western Hospital at University Health Network. In 2020, Zadeh became the first woman to be elected Chair of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto. In 2023, she was one of the two winners of the inaugural Canada Gairdner Momentum Award.

Neil Vasdev is a Canadian and American radiochemist and expert in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, particularly in the application of PET. Radiotracers developed by the Vasdev Lab are in preclinical use worldwide, and many have been translated for first-in-human neuroimaging studies. He is the director and chief radiochemist of the Brain Health Imaging Centre and director of the Azrieli Centre for Neuro-Radiochemistry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Radiochemistry and Nuclear Medicine, the endowed Azrieli Chair in Brain and Behaviour and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Vasdev has been featured on Global News, CTV, CNN, New York Times, Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail for his innovative research program.

Andres M. Lozano is a Spanish-Canadian neurosurgeon and scientist known for his work in Deep Brain Stimulation and MR guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery. He holds the Alan & Susan Hudson Cornerstone Chair in Neurosurgery at the University Health Network Toronto and is a University Professor at the University of Toronto. His work has been covered by major international news publications including BBC, Scientific American, The Independent, The Globe and Mail and NPR.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Faculty member: Gillian Einstein". psych.utoronto.ca. Department of Psychology . Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  2. 1 2 Jankovic, Jovana (14 March 2014). "Gillian Einstein leads research in women's brain health with inaugural Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair". Women's Brain Health Initiative. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  3. ↑ George, Meghan. "Gillian Einstein - Psychology's Feminist Voices". www.feministvoices.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Toronto neuroscientist tackling science, sex and sexism in women's health | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  5. ↑ Einstein, Gillian; Davis, Thomas L.; Sterling, Peter (1987-06-01). "Pattern of lateral geniculate synapses on neuron somata in layer IV of the cat striate cortex". The Journal of Comparative Neurology (in French). 260 (1): 76–86. doi:10.1002/cne.902600107. ISSN   0021-9967. PMID   3036913. S2CID   25960996.
  6. 1 2 "About Us". www.dlsph.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  7. ↑ "Women's College Hospital - WCRI Provides Home to Graduate Program in Women's Health Research". www.womenscollegehospital.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  8. ↑ Einstein, Gillian (2007). Sex and the brain. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN   9780262050876.
  9. 1 2 Allen, Kate (3 June 2017). "Toronto neuroscientist tackling science, sex and sexism in women's health". Toronto Star . Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  10. 1 2 Research, Government of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health (2018-01-09). "Why do more women develop Alzheimer's disease than men? - CIHR". www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "Delving into the link between estrogen and dementia | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  12. ↑ "Gillian Einstein Leads Research in Women's Brain Health with Inaugural Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair". www.dlsph.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  13. ↑ "University of Toronto researcher receives The Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women's Brain Health and Aging". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.