Project Description
Geoffrey K. Aguirre is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and a cognitive neuroscientist. His clinical and research work concerns the organization of the brain for mental operations, in particular visual ability. Using functional MRI, a non-invasive tool for measuring brain activity, he studies how neurons are normally arranged to represent and store the appearance of people, places, and things. He uses these techniques to understand as well how blindness changes the brain. As a clinician, Dr.Aguirre treats patients with a variety of disturbances of thinking and memory, with his practice informed by recent insights into the organization of the brain for these functions. He studies the methodological development and application of imaging techniques. Dr. Aguirre is the Associate Director of the Center for Neuroscience and Society and a Senior Consultant to the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, with a focus upon the use and misuse of brain imaging data. He is also the Associate Director of the Neurology Residency program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.