Heather Read, Ph.D.

Summary

Dr. Heather Read is a Professor in Psychological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, “Brain Computer Interface” group director, and co-founder of Elemind Technologies, Inc. At Loyola University Medical School, Dr. Read explored interhemispheric cortico-cortical synaptic biophysics in the mammalian frontal cortex. At Rockefellor University, Dr. Read developed artificial neural network (ANN) models to simulate neural coding & dynamics of convergent oculo-motor and visual motion cues for spatial attention in parietal cortex of primates performing visual motion perception tasks. At University of California at San Francisco and UC Berkeley Dr. Read discovered a novel hypercolumn organization and acoustic feature driven cortico-cortical pathway connection underlying the neural encoding of pitch and rhythm cues in the mammalian auditory cortex. At University of Connecticut, Read’s team develops large-scale high-resolution brain mapping techniques. Collaborating with Monty Escabi, John Viventi and John A Rogers, and others Read-lab cross validated a novel high resolution ECOG electrode array. The team builds Bayesian models that predict the behavioral ability to classify natural sounds including vocalizations and explores attention-related human EEG responses to natural sounds and speech. Dr. Read has organized and chaired scientific symposia and workshops at Computational Systems Neuroscience (CoSyNe), The Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) and the Society for Neuroscience (SFN). Dr. Read has given talks at Gordon Research Conference & Neuro IPS. Dr. Read has served on NSF, NIH, BRAIN initiative grant review panels and as Chair for the NIBIB & BRAIN initiative review panels for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Dr. Read's honors include a Graduate Fellowship, Schmitt Dissertation Award, Marine Biological Laboratories Fellowship, Two Kavli Fellowships, A Computational Neuroscience Award from the Max Planck, and federal grants from NSF and NIH. In a basic science collaboration with colleagues Ed Boyden, Nir Grossman, and David Wang at MIT, Dr. Read helped develop a novel real-time brain-signal tracking system to track attentional brainwaves and deliver phase-locked acoustical stimulation. Dr. Read & collaborators co-founded the Elemind Technologies, Inc. Read served as the interim CEO and CSO prior to bringing on an excellent CEO and co-founder Meredith Perry and team to develop and test human applications for our novel, individualized closed-loop neuromodulation technologies.