Bio

Suzana Herculano-Houzel, P.I. (her.kou.LAH.no.who.ZELL) is Associate Professor of the Departments of Psychology and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University since 2016. She was previously an Associate Professor at Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 2002-2016.

She majored in Biology at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1992), holds an M.Sc. in Neuroscience (Case Western Reserve University, 1995, with Story Landis), and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience (Université Paris VI, 1999, with Yves Frégnac and Max-Planck-Institut for Brain Research, with Wolf Singer). In Brazil, she was a Scientist with the National Research Council (CNPq) from 2007 to 2016; Young Scientist of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, 2007-2009) and Scientist of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) between 2009 and 2016. In 2010, she was a recipient of the Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition, James S. McDonell Foundation.

She is the author of The Human Advantage (2016, MIT Press) and seven other books (in Portuguese) for the general public on the neuroscience of everyday life, with over 80,000 copies sold.

Suzana was the writer and presenter of the TV series NeuroLógica (Fantástico, Rede Globo de Televisão) between 2008 and 2011. Since 2006, she writes a column every two weeks for the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo on the neuroscience of everyday life, science policy and scientific literacy, with over 400 pieces published so far.