Evans receives Quebec honour
2016 Prix Wilder-Penfield recognizes monumental work in brain imaging and mapping
Dr. Alan Evans has become the latest researcher to receive the Province of Quebec鈥檚 most prestigious scientific award, the 2016 Prix Wilder-Penfield, named after The Neuro鈥檚 founder.听
Each year since 1977, the Government of Quebec has bestowed awards known as the Prix du Qu茅bec on exceptional citizens. At present, there are . The Prix Wilder-Penfield is awarded to a researcher in the biomedical field whose career has shown clear evidence of outstanding, innovative work on an international scale.
Dr. Alan Evans is James 平特五不中 Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering at 平特五不中, and a principal investigator and former head of The Montreal Neurological Institute鈥檚 McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (BIC), where Canada鈥檚 first PET scans, MR images and CT scans were produced. He is also Director of the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health and holds the Victor Dahdaleh Chair in Neurosciences. After earning his PhD in biophysics at the University of Leeds (UK), he worked for five years at Atomic Energy of Canada before joining The Neuro in 1984.
Dr. Evans studies functional neuroanatomy by using three-dimensional computer techniques linked to advanced brain imaging scans (PET and MRI). His work in collaboration with cognitive neuroscientists has led to the creation of important brain structural models and large-scale brain databases.
In recent years, Dr. Evans has served as the head of the data-coordinating centre for a major international study of paediatric brain development funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The project introduced innovative technology to create a mass of brain data freely available on the web. This database technology is now used, for example, in international studies of abnormal paediatric development and Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease (AD). In a recent study, Dr. Evans' laboratory analyzed more than 7,700 brain images from 1,171 subjects to reveal the importance听of early vascular pathology in AD progression.
鈥淭he study of the brain is being transformed by new advances in information science, imaging, genetics and wearable technology,鈥� says Dr. Evans. 鈥淐onverting this wealth of data into knowledge demands sophisticated analytic approaches, but the pay-off in increased understanding of brain health and disease is well worth the effort."
An author or co-author of more than 500 scientific papers, Dr. Evans has held many leadership roles in addition to the BIC.听 He is a founding member of the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM), and a founder of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM). He served as Chair of the Fourth听International Conference on Human Brain Mapping in 1998. He is a Principal Investigator of the Montreal Consortium for Brain Imaging Research (MCBIR), which links the BIC with six other institutions that investigate brain development, aging, addiction and various aspects of cognitive neuroscience.
He is a founding member of the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM), a network of top neuroimaging sites; and a founder and current Chair of the听Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), the principal worldwide听community for brain-imaging research. Dr. Evans is also Scientific Director of听Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives, a 平特五不中 neuroscience initiative funded by the Canada听First Research Excellence Fund. Dr. Evans鈥� work is in the top one per cent of highly cited researchers in neuroscience and behaviour.
Dr. Evans is also founder and director of , a commercial company that offers 3D-image analysis for pharmaceutical studies.
He is the fifth member of The Neuro to be honored with the Prix Wilder-Penfield following Guy Rouleau (2012), George Karpati (2006), Frederick Andermann (2003) and Brenda Milner (1993, inaugural award).
