Mircea Steriade, MD, DSc
Professor of Neuroscience
University Laval, Quebec, Canada
(1924-2006)
Awarded in celebration of the work and life of Mircea Steriade, daring and indefatigable explorer of brain oscillations during sleep.
- Keen observer and masterful interpreter of the interplay of neurons’ rhythmic dances of activity, with tempo and timing shaped by changes in state.
- Conqueror of the challenge of intracellular recording in the intact brain, creator of a lucid, revolutionary explication of spindles and the underlying orchestration of thalamic and cortical neuronal activity.
- Master of neuronal sleep rhythms, creator of a unifying theory that grouped spindles, delta activity, and fast oscillations under the organizing baton of a slow
neocortical oscillation. - Illuminator of REM sleep-generating and EEG-activation properties of cholinergic brainstem nuclei.
- Gifted neurologist who translated his insight into brain oscillations during sleep into understanding of seizure generation.
Harvard Medical School
Division of Sleep Medicine
2006 Annual Prize in Sleep Medicine Recipient
See more information about the 2006 Sleep and Health Benefit Dinner.