Biography
 
 

Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.

William James & Vilas Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry

Director, W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging & Behavior, and the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Richard Davidson received his Ph.D. from Harvard in Psychology and has been at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1984. Dr. Davidson is internationally renowned for his research on the neural substrates of emotion and emotional disorders. He has published more than 200 articles, many chapters and reviews and edited or co-edited 13 books. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Scientist Award, a MERIT Award from NIMH, an Established Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD, the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1992 and has been helping to organize meetings between His Holiness and scientists under the auspices of the Mind & Life Institute on whose Board of Directors he serves. With the encouragement and support of His Holiness, Davidson has launched a program of neuroscientific research on the impact of meditation on the mind, brain and body.