Richard Frackowiak
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Richard Stanislaus Joseph Frackowiak, born 26 March 1950 in London, is a British and French
neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...
and
neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...
. He is best known for his role in the development of
neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...
, as the founding director of the
Functional Imaging Laboratory The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, formerly the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London (incorporating the Leopold Muller Functional Imaging Laboratory and the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience) is ...
(FIL) at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
(UCL) and as one of the initiators, in 2013, of the
Human Brain Project The Human Brain Project (HBP) was a €1-billion EU scientific research project that ran for ten years from 2013 to 2023. Using high-performance exascale supercomputers it built infrastructure that allowed researchers to advance knowledge in ...
(HBP), a ten-year European project coordinated by the
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...
(EPFL) with the goal of advancing knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, computing and brain-related medicine.


Biography


Youth and education

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, his father fought on different fronts in the ranks of the Polish 1st Armoured Division (''1 Dywizja Pancerna''), his wartime engagements culminating in the Normandy theatre of operations (6 June – 12 September 1944). His mother took part in the
Warsaw uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
(1 August – 2 October 1944), during which she was captured and interned at a series of
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
culminating in
Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...
. After the camp was liberated in April 1945, she went to England where her sister was living. It was through the Polish émigré community in London that she met her future husband. Born in London five years later, Richard Frackowiak won a scholarship to
Latymer Upper School Latymer Upper School is a public school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 Latymer Foundation, from a bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer. There ...
in that city, but learned Polish at home with his parents and at Polish school on Saturdays (he jokes that he speaks a Polish that dates to 1945). At the age of 15 he began to think about a career in medicine, inspired by the family doctor, a Polish bachelor who often visited the family and who had also taken part in the
Warsaw uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
. The stories the doctor told about working as a surgeon for the resistance, operating in cellars in rudimentary conditions, left a profound impression on the teenage boy. At school he distinguished himself in biology, chemistry and physics and showed an early fascination for the workings of the brain. He undertook his
medical studies Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
at
Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...
, to which he also won a scholarship, and he completed the final three years of those studies at the
Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
Medical School, which later merged with the medical school of
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
(UCL). In 1983 he defended his
Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...
thesis on the quantitative measurement of
cerebral blood flow Cerebral circulation is the movement of blood through a network of cerebral arteries and veins supplying the brain. The rate of cerebral blood flow in an adult human is typically 750 milliliters per minute, or about 15% of cardiac output. ...
by
positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, r ...
(PET).


Personal life

Frackowiak has been married twice and has three children from his first marriage. He lives in Paris with his second wife, science journalist Laura Spinney.


Professional career

From 1984 to 1993, Frackowiak directed the neurology service of the
Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...
in London, and from 1988 to 1993 he was deputy director of the Medical Research Council Cyclotron Unit at the same hospital. In 1990, he took up a joint chair of neurology at Hammersmith and the
UCL Institute of Neurology The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. Together with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, a ...
in Queen Square, London where, in 1994, he founded the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience and its Functional Imaging Laboratory (FIL). Terry Jones was his mentor in neuroimaging, and Karl J. Friston, Chris Frith and Raymond Dolan were founding principal investigator colleagues at the FIL. In 1998 he was named director of the
UCL Institute of Neurology The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. Together with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, a ...
, a post he held until 2002. Between 2002 and 2009 he was Vice-Provost (Special Projects) of UCL, and a proponent of a failed attempt to merge
Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...
and UCL. Between 2003 and 2009 he directed the Department of Cognitive Studies (DEC) of the
École normale supérieure (Paris) The – PSL (; also known as ENS, , Ulm or ENS Paris) is a ''grande école'' in Paris, France. It is one of the constituent members of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). Due to its selectivity, historical role, and influence within F ...
, where he and others created a joint Masters programme in Brain and Mind Sciences between what was then
Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...
(part of
Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...
), the École normale supérieure and UCL. He sits on the Board of directors of the Brain and Spine Institute in Paris, whose neuroimaging activities he helped set up. He served as scientific advisor to the President-Director General of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) between 2007 and 2014, and in 2010 he led an international jury selecting the best research projects of the French ''instituts hospitalo-universitaires'' (IHU) investment programme created the previous year by the French President
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
. Concurrently he joined the jury of the ''Initiative d'excellence'' (IDEX) partner programme, that was designed to promote the consolidation and transformation of French universities. In 2009, he was named professor and head of the neurology service of the
Lausanne University Hospital The Lausanne University Hospital (, CHUV), in Lausanne, is one of the five Teaching hospital, university hospitals in Switzerland. The Lausanne University Hospital is linked to the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne, ...
of the
University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...
(UNIL) in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. In 2013, he took up a post as titular professor at the
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...
(EPFL), in the laboratory of neuroscientist Henry Markram’s
Blue Brain Project The Blue Brain Project was a Swiss brain research initiative that aimed to create a digital reconstruction of the mouse brain. The project was founded in May 2005 by the Brain Mind Institute of ''École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne'' (EPFL ...
. With Markram and physicist Karlheinz Meier, he launched the
Human Brain Project The Human Brain Project (HBP) was a €1-billion EU scientific research project that ran for ten years from 2013 to 2023. Using high-performance exascale supercomputers it built infrastructure that allowed researchers to advance knowledge in ...
, which was financed partly by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
, becoming its medical co-director. He retired from his clinical and HBP-related activities in 2015, but remains scientifically active as a titular professor at the EPFL and as a permanent visitor at the École normale supérieure in Paris. He is a professor emeritus at UCL. As chair of the medical sciences committee of
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
-based
Science Europe Science Europe is an association of major research funding organisations (RFOs) and research organisation, research performing organisations (RPOs). It was established in October 2011 and is based in Brussels. The association facilitates co-opera ...
, in 2016 he lobbied successfully for exemptions to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU)’s
General Data Protection Regulation The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), abbreviated GDPR, is a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of ...
, to facilitate data-led clinical and public health research in the EU.


Research

Frackowiak first became interested in the
pathophysiology Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...
of various
neurological disorder Neurological disorders represent a complex array of medical conditions that fundamentally disrupt the functioning of the nervous system. These disorders affect the brain, spinal cord, and nerve networks, presenting unique diagnosis, treatment, and ...
s. His research formed the basis of the clinical applications of
positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, r ...
(PET). In the early 1990s he turned his attention to the imagery of cerebral functions, and his group became a leader in the study of functional cerebral localisations, notably through the application of
functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...
(fMRI), which provides high-quality structural and functional images with high
spatial resolution In physics and geosciences, the term spatial resolution refers to distance between independent measurements, or the physical dimension that represents a pixel of the image. While in some instruments, like cameras and telescopes, spatial resoluti ...
and without
radiation exposure Radiation exposure is a measure of the ionization of air due to ionizing radiation from photons. It is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air. As of 2007, "medical radia ...
. The automated image generation and analysis process was standardised to create functional brain maps (
brain morphometry Brain morphometry is a subfield of both morphometry and the brain sciences, concerned with the measurement of brain structures and changes thereof during development, aging, learning, disease and evolution. Since autopsy-like dissection is general ...
based on
voxel In computing, a voxel is a representation of a value on a three-dimensional regular grid, akin to the two-dimensional pixel. Voxels are frequently used in the Data visualization, visualization and analysis of medical imaging, medical and scient ...
s). These techniques made it possible to demonstrate the existence of the brain's dynamic
neuronal plasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewire its neural c ...
, both in its functions and in its structure, and both in normal subjects and in patients with
neurological Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the s ...
and
neuropsychiatric Neuropsychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neuropsychiatry, the mind i ...
disorders. Others of the group's studies showed the ability of the brain to reorganise itself after
traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity ranging from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) to severe traumati ...
, through practice and learning. Two editions of the textbook ''Human Brain Function'', co-edited by Frackowiak and published by
Academic Press Academic Press (AP) is an academic book publisher founded in 1941. It launched a British division in the 1950s. Academic Press was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier said in 2000 it would buy Harcourt, a deal complete ...
in 1997 and 2004, summarise the research conducted at the FIL over ten years. In January 2021, he had an h index of 210.


Distinctions (selection)

* 1995 founder member of the
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...
* 1997 Neuronal Plasticity Prize (with
Antonio Damasio Antonio Damasio (; born 25 February 1944) is a Portuguese neuroscientist. He is currently the David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience, as well as Professor of Psychology, Philosophy, and Neurology, at the University of Southern California, and, add ...
and
Michael Merzenich Michael Matthias Merzenich ( ; born 1942 in Lebanon, Oregon) is an American neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. He took the sensory cortex maps developed by his predecessors (Archie Tunturi, Clint ...
) * 1997 Prize of the Feldberg Foundation for Anglo-German Scientific Exchange * 1999
Doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
of the
University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...
* 2000 founding fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences * 2000 honorary member of the
American Neurological Association The American Neurological Association (ANA) is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic ...
* 2003
Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize () is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a ...
(with Eleanor Maguire and others at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
) "for presenting evidence that the brains of London taxi drivers are more highly developed than those of their fellow citizens" * 2004 K-J. ZĂĽlch Prize of the
Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...
for the Advancement of Science, for "imaging measurement methods to investigate the functional architecture of the human brain" * 2004–2007 President of the
British Neuroscience Association The British Neuroscience Association (BNA) is a scientific society with around 2,500 members. Starting out as an informal gathering of scientists meeting at the Black Horse Public House in London to discuss brain-related topics (the 'London Black ...
* 2009–2010 President of the
European Brain and Behaviour Society The European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS) is a scientific society founded in 1968 whose stated purpose is the exchange of information between European scientists interested in the relationships between brain mechanisms and behaviour. It is th ...
* 2013 member of the
Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...
* 2020 corresponding member of the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in KrakĂłw and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Po ...


External links

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frackowiak, Richard 21st-century French physicians 20th-century British medical doctors British neurologists Neuroimaging researchers Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Academics of University College London Academic staff of the University of Lausanne Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Members of Academia Europaea 1950 births Medical doctors from London Living people Members of the National Academy of Medicine