American University University of British Columbia
Knownfor
Neurobiology of sexual behavior and motivation
Awards
Frank A. Beach Early Career Award (1995) Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (2014) Josef Hynie Prize (2023)
Scientific career
Fields
Behavioral neuroscience, sexual behavior
Institutions
Charles University Czech National Institute of Mental Health Concordia University
James George Pfaus (born 1958[citation needed]) is an American-Canadian[citation needed]behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the neurobiology of sexual behavior, motivation, and dysfunction.[1] He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Life Sciences at Charles University in Prague and Director of Research for the Center for Sexual Health and Interventions at the Czech National Institute of Mental Health (Národní ústav duševního zdraví).[2] His work spans animal and human models and has contributed to the understanding of the brain’s role in sexual function, desire, pleasure, and disorders.[3]
Pfaus is the author of over 260 scientific articles and book chapters, with more than 17,000 citations and has an h-index of 70 according to Google Scholar.[4]
Education and early career
Pfaus earned his undergraduate degree in psychology with honors from American University in 1983, followed by M.A. (1986) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees in behavioral neuroscience from the University of British Columbia.[5] His doctoral research examined dopamine’s role in sexual motivation. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York in the laboratory of Donald Pfaff, where he trained in molecular neurobiology and behavior.[6]
Academic appointments
Pfaus began his academic career in 1992 at Concordia University in Montreal, where he became a full professor and remained until 2018.[7] He helped develop Concordia's Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology and trained graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows.[8]
From 2019 to 2021, he was a visiting professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones Cerebrales, Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico. In 2021, he joined Charles University in Prague, and in 2022 became Director of Research at the Czech National Institute of Mental Health's Center for Sexual Health and Interventions.[9] He also holds an adjunct research position at the Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal.[10]
Research and contributions
Pfaus’ research investigates the neurochemical, hormonal, and experiential mechanisms involved in sexual behaviors. His work has shown how neural systems related to reward and learning, particularly involving dopamine, oxytocin, and opioids, underlie sexual arousal, desire, orgasm, and partner preference.[11] He has explored the effects of hormonal and pharmacological modulation on sexual function and dysfunction, including the sexual side effects of psychiatric medications.[12]
His preclinical work contributed to the development of drugs such as bremelanotide (Vyleesi) and flibanserin (Addyi) for hypoactive sexual desire disorder. He has also worked on treatments for other dysfunctions in men and women, and on neural models of compulsive sexual behavior and paraphilias.[13]
He is a fellow and board member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and was the 43rd President of the International Academy of Sex Research from 2016 to 2017.[15]
Awards and recognition
Frank A. Beach Early Career Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (1995)
Frank A. Beach Comparative Psychology Award, American Psychological Association (2009)
Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (2014)
Josef Hynie Prize, Czech Medical Association (2023)
Neuroscience Leader in Czech Republic, Research.com rankings (2024, 2025)[16]
Selected publications
Pfaus, J.G. (2025). "Orgasms, sexual pleasure, and opioid reward mechanisms". Sexual Medicine Reviews, 13(3), 381–393. doi:10.1093/sxmrev/qeaf023
Pfaus, J.G., Garcia-Juárez, M., et al. (2025). "Cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of ovarian steroid hormones II: Regulation of sexual behavior in female rodents". Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 168(1), 105946. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105946
Germé, K., Persad, D., Amir, S., & Pfaus, J.G. (2025). "Disruptive effects of d-amphetamine on conditioned sexual inhibition". Psychopharmacology. In press. doi:10.1007/s00213-025-06786-y
Quintana, G.R., & Pfaus, J.G. (2024). "Do sex and gender have separate identities?". Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(8), 2957–2975. doi:10.1007/s10508-024-02933-2
Pfaus, J.G., Quintana, G.R., Mac Cionnaith, C., Parada, M. (2016). "The whole versus the sum of some of the parts: toward resolving the apparent controversy of clitoral versus vaginal orgasms". Socioaffective Neuroscience and Psychology, 6, 32578. doi:10.3402/snp.v6.32578
Pfaus, J.G., Kippin, T.E., Coria-Avila, G.E., Gelez, H., Afonso, V.M., Ismail, N., & Parada, M. (2012). "Who, What, Where, When, (and Maybe Even Why)? How the experience of sexual reward influences sexual desire, preference, and performance". Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(1): 31–62. doi:10.1007/s10508-012-9935-5
Georgiadis, J.R., Kringelbach, M.L., & Pfaus, J.G. (2012). "Sex for fun: bringing together human and animal neurobiology". Nature Reviews Urology, 9, 486–498. doi:10.1038/nrurol.2012.151
Pfaus, J.G. (2009). "Pathways of sexual desire". Journal of Sexual Medicine, 6(6), 1506–1533. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01309.x
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