Alan Evans is one of the world’s foremost authorities on brain imaging and the modeling of brain networks. During his distinguished academic career, his work has pioneered innovative techniques that enhance the resolution of brain imaging devices by using statistical analysis of images to discover previously unseen attributes of the brain. His project, “The BigBrain”, succeeded in mapping the brain to 20 microns resolution, the highest resolution 3D brain template ever created. His work is central to the development of platforms and tools which exploit large scale data mining to further understanding of the brain.
Alan Evans is currently the James McGill Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering and serves as the Victor Dahdaleh Chair in Neurosciences at McGill University. He is also Scientific Director of the Canada First Research Excellence Fund project “Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives” and Scientific Director of the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
His ground-breaking work has been awarded with many of the field’s most prestigious awards including the CIHR Senior Scientist Award, the national Margolese Prize for Research into Human Brain Disorders, the Vezina Prize for Quebec Neuroradiology, and the 2019 OHBM Glass Brain Award for lifetime achievement in neuroimaging.
His scholarship is cited extensively in peer-reviewed journals and many of his publications have become classics in his field. This research has facilitated significant advances in the field of personalized medical treatments and has led to many clinical innovations in the diagnostics of brain disorders, which means better and earlier treatments for those struck by neurological maladies.
photo credit: Shawn Hayward