Patricia Goldman-Rakic ( ; née Shoer, April 22, 1937 – July 31, 2003) was an American professor of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "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 brain, the spinal ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

Yale University School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

. She pioneered multidisciplinary research of the

prefrontal cortex In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA46 ...

and

working memory Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, ...

Early life and education

Patricia Shoer was born in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

. Her father, Irving Shoer, was the son of Latvian immigrants and her mother, Jenny Pearl, was a Russian immigrant. She grew up in Peabody, Massachusetts and attended Peabody High School. Goldman-Rakic earned her bachelor's degree cum laude in

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

from Vassar in 1959, and her doctorate from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in experimental Developmental Psychology in 1963."Patricia Goldman-Rakic", Newsmakers, Issue 4. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC After postdoctoral positions at UCLA and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, Goldman-Rakic worked at the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...

in neuropsychology and later as Chief of

Developmental Neurobiology ''Developmental Neurobiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neural development. It was established in 1969 as ''Journal of Neurobiology'', covering all of neuroscience, but when the scope become more specia ...

from 1965-1979. She moved to

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

in 1979 where she remained until her death. She was The Eugene Higgins Professor of Neuroscience in the neurobiology department with joint appointments in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology. In 1988 she was granted a five-year, $6 million grant to establish the Center for Neuroscience Research at Yale.

Research

Goldman-Rakic was the first to discover and describe the circuitry of the prefrontal cortex and its relationship to working memory. Previously, scientists thought that the higher cognitive functions of the prefrontal cortex were beyond the scope of scientific study. Goldman-Rakic's research showed that methods employed to study the sensory cortices could be adapted to the highest order prefrontal cortical areas, revealing the circuit basis for higher cognitive function. Because of Goldman-Rakic, scientists began to better understand the neurobiological basis of higher cognitive function, and of such disorders as

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

, Alzheimer's,

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

(ADHD),

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, and

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. She used a multidisciplinary approach, applying biochemical,

electrophysiological Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of bi ...

, pharmacological, anatomical and behavioral techniques to study working memory. She pioneered the first studies of dopamine influences on prefrontal cortical function, research that is critical to our understanding of schizophrenia, ADHD and Parkinson's disease. A review of her life's work, including her special role mentoring women scientists, can be found in ''Neuron''. Goldman-Rakic co-authored over 300 scholarly articles and co-edited 3 books. She co-founded the '' Cerebral Cortex Journal'', a specialized publication by Oxford Press, with her husband Dr.

Pasko Rakic Pasko Rakic ( hr, Paško Rakić, ) is a Yugoslav-born American neuroscientist, who presently works in the Yale School of Medicine Department of Neuroscience in New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It ...

. Early in her career, she studied the capacity of the brain to repair itself in early development, and was one of the first to use radioactive tracers to examine this phenomenon. She used microelectrode recording in her research and challenged the traditional notion that memory was not controlled or involved in the frontal lobe; she asserted that working memory was in its own structure apart from long-term memory.

Personal life

Goldman-Rakic had two sisters, Dr. Ruth Rappaport, her identical twin, and Dr. Linda Faith Schoer. She was married to Dr. Lawrence Goldman. She re-married

, also a neuroscientist, in 1979.

Death

On July 29, 2003, Goldman-Rakic was struck by a car while crossing a street in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census. History The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...

. She died two days later, on July 31 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She is buried in Grove Street Cemetery. In memory or Goldman-Rakic, Constance and Stephen Lieber created the ''Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience'' to celebrate her memory and her discoveries about the brain's frontal lobe. This prize is awarded every year to outstanding scientists, from psychiatrist to molecular neuroscientist, for their impact on the study of cognition. The prize carries an award of $40,000 and the winners are honored at the annual International Awards Dinner in New York City.

Honors and awards

Goldman-Rakic was also the President of the

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, DC, for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well kn ...

from 1989-1990 and a fellow of The

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

References

External links

Patricia Goldman-Rakic: Mapping the Prefrontal Cortex

Amy F.T. Arnsten and Pasko Rakic, "Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldman-Rakic, Patricia American neuroscientists American women neuroscientists 1937 births 2003 deaths People from Salem, Massachusetts University of California, Los Angeles alumni New York University staff Yale University faculty Vassar College alumni Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Schizophrenia researchers Alzheimer's disease researchers Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder researchers Parkinson's disease researchers American women academics 21st-century American women Members of the National Academy of Medicine