Fumiko Hoeft, MD, Ph.D.

Director, Brain Imaging Research Center, UConn

Director,  Laboratory for Learning Engineering & Neural Systems, UConn/UCSF

Adjunct Professor, UCSF Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, & Dyslexia Center

Senior Scientist & Senior Advisor of Strategic Planning at Haskins Laboratories

Co-Director of Haskins L2 (Language & Literacy) Global Innovation Hub

 

Fumiko Hoeft MD PhD is Professor of Psychological Sciences, Director of Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) at UCONN, and Director of Laboratory for Learning Engineering and Neural Systems (brainLENS.org) located at UCONN/UCSF. She also has appointments as Professor of Psychiatry at UCONN Health, Senior Scientist & Senior Advisor of Strategic Planning at Haskins Laboratories, Co-Director of Haskins L2 (Language & Literacy) Global Innovation Hub, Adjunct Professor of UCSF Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Dyslexia Center, and Adjunct Faculty at Keio Univ SoM Psychiatry.

 

Hoeft is a neurophysiologist, as well as a systems and developmental cognitive neuroscientist with theoretical interests in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in brain maturational processes, acquisition of skills such as literacy and how they interact. She is also interested in identifying how biology (gene) and environment influence neurodevelopment. In her research, her lab employs a variety of neuroimaging techniques (e.g. fMRI, T1 aMRI, DWI, MRS, NIRS, EEG/MEG, TMS/tDCS), analytical approaches (e.g. machine learning, graph theory), designs (e.g. intergenerational neuroimaging, imaging genetics, human natural cross-fostering design), and perturbation techniques (e.g. neuromodulation using TMS/tDCS, perturbation of English literacy acquisition through foreign language/literacy learning, and atypical populations such as dyslexia). Hoeft received pre/postdoctoral research training at Harvard, UCLA, Caltech and Stanford.

 

Recent honors include awards from the International Dyslexia Association (IDA; 2014), Learning & the Brain Foundation (2015), University of California Office of the President (2016), Int’l Mind Brain & Education Society (IMBES; 2018), and Society for Neuroscience (SfN; 2018). She has published over 130 articles, reviews, and book chapters, and has delivered over 160 keynotes, talks and workshops at venues such as local schools, International conferences, TEDx and the White House. Her work has been widely covered in media such as The New York Times, NPR, CNN, the New Yorker, and Scientific American. She also serves on many boards at organizations such as the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), and Bay Area Discovery Museum’s (BADM) Center for Childhood Creativity (CCC).