Jason receives Governor General’s Gold Medal.
👏 A huge congratulations to our lab graduate, Jason da Silva Castanheira, PhD, for his exceptional achievements at McGill University’s 2023-2024 convocation!
Jason was honored with two prestigious awards:
• Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize: Awarded to an outstanding graduate in any discipline within the Biological and Health Sciences.
• Governor General’s Gold Medal: Recognized as the top graduate across all disciplines.
More about Jason:
Jason da Silva Castanheira, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist who completed his PhD in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill University under the supervision of Prof. Sylvain Baillet, based at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
Jason’s doctoral thesis focused on characterizing the biological origins of our inter-individual differences. Jason discovered what features of brain activity are unique to individuals by using brain scans of over 1000 individuals from openly available datasets. His research contributed to the notion of the ‘brain-fingerprint’: brain activity characteristic of individuals. He demonstrated that the brain-fingerprint is stable over months, impacted by neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, and strongly influenced by genetics. The results of his dissertation lay the groundwork for future work exploring the biological origins of individual diversity. His research has been recognized by the Canadian Association for Neuroscience Brain Star Award, the Fonds de Recherche de Quebec, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
During his time at McGill University, Jason has strongly advocated for scientific openness. He curated resources and taught online courses about computer programming for neuroscientists. In addition, he developed analysis tools for the neuroscientific community as part of the openly available Brainstorm software package. His involvement with NeuroLingo, the Wisdom Exchange Program, and his administrative role in Brain Info underscore his dedication to communicating scientific innovation to everyone.
Jason continues his scientific journey as a post-doctoral research fellow at University College London exploring the neuroscience of attention and conscious perception in the lab of Prof. Steve Fleming. His research will focus on how the brain selects information for planning.