Lisa Marie Saksida is a Canadian neuroscientist. She is a Professor and

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry The Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry is the combined medical school and dental school of the University of Western Ontario, a public university in London, Ontario, Canada. The medical education section is one of six in Ontario and one ...

. Since 2000, Saksida has worked on the development of a touchscreen-based cognitive assessment system specifically for mouse models.

Early life and education

Saksida is a native of

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Alberta, Canada. She completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree at the

before flying West for her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. She eventually left Canada for her second master's degree at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

before finally returning to North America for her PhD at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. Saksida received a grant from the Alberta Heritage Scholarships Fund to support her doctoral studies. Her thesis, conducted under advisor James McClelland, was titled ''The Interaction of Perception and Cognition: A Competitive Connectionist Model of the Effects of Experience on Perceptual Representations.'' Following her PhD, she held a Fogarty Fellowship 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 primar ...

but left this after a year to take up a Pinsent Darwin Research Associateship at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

Saksida and her husband, Timothy John Bussey, worked together at the University of Cambridge for 15 years where they specialized in understanding cognition. During their tenure in England, she was a principal investigator in the Translational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab where she researched the fundamental psychological processes involved in memory and perception. In this role, she co-developed a touchscreen method for cognitive testing of rodents. They built a toaster oven sized chamber to house test mice and test their cognitive ability by using IPads. Saksida and her husband eventually left Cambridge for her alma mater, the University of Western Ontario, in 2016. As a full professor at the University of Western Ontario, Saksida was appointed a Tier 1

in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience to support her research in 2017. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Saksida was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

for being "a world pioneer in developing touchscreen technology that helps researchers test cognition in mouse models of brain disease in a way that is relevant to human patients." She also worked in partnership with the Alzheimer Society London and Middlesex (ASLM) and the

Alzheimer Society of Ontario Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with ...

to better understand the experiences of care partners in southwestern Ontario during the pandemic. Later, Saksida's research was also recognized with an election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and honoured as one of the WXN Top 100 "for outstanding Canadian women who advocate for workforce diversity and inspire tomorrow’s leaders."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saksida, Lisa Living people Canadian neuroscientists Canadian women neuroscientists Canada Research Chairs Academics of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge University of British Columbia alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Year of birth missing (living people)