Eric Avila Email & Phone Number

Safeguarding patients and ensuring compliance for our medical devices: » Leading and managing pre- and post-market clinical research for (software and hardware) medical devices under EU MDR 2017/745, ensuring compliance with ISO 14155:2020, ISO 13485:2016, and ICH GCP standards. » Providing clinical support for (new) medical device development. » Responsible for writing clinical (study) documentation and investigation reports conforming to EU MDR 2017/745.» Monitoring and evaluating new guidelines and regulations to assess their impact on our procedures and making updates as needed.» Assisting the Clinical Affairs Team in organizing and prioritizing tasks to ensure successful deadline management.

» Finalizing analyses and publishing remaining projects in the laboratory; 4 projects delivered with peer-reviewed publications.» Animal behavioral training, implant design, and surgery consultant.

New York, New York, United States

» Supervised and monitored the day-to-day scientific operation, mentored staff at all levels, and trained new personnel. Used supervised and unsupervised learning models to analyze big data.» I planned, designed, built, and executed all (neuro)surgical implants.» Innovated different surgical approaches for studying the brain by using a combination of CT, MRI, and 3D modeling to target multiple brain areas. » Contributed to writing grant proposals that helped secure yearly funding (>1M dollars). » I was in charge of writing all regulatory documentation and securing approval for experimental procedures, creating laboratory SOPs and POPs, and training manuals. » Coordinated office space construction and building of experimental setups.==============Scientific summaryI use virtual reality, eye movements, and neural recordings to investigate how natural complex behaviors, like navigation, emerge from the interactions between different brain regions.Behavior arises from the complex interactions of multiple brain areas. Yet, we study most cognitive processes in individual brain areas with tasks where we separate action from perception. For most types of (natural) behavior, we ignore which areas represent and mediate cognitive processes and how behavior emerges from the interaction between different brain areas. To answer these questions, we use a spatial navigation task, which is a complex, goal-directed behavior that requires a proper interplay between different brain regions to integrate self-motion perception and external sensory inputs( one that heavily relies on eye movements to gather information about our environment) to guide future behavior. We use state-of-the-art behavioral tasks and VR, and electrophysiological recordings from multiple brain areas to offer an exceptional and novel way to explain the neural foundations of cognition, perception, and action.

Houston, Texas, United States

» Developed, from the behavioral to the experimental approach, a new line of non-human primate research, which included interdisciplinary collaborations. Analysis of big datasets using machine learning. » In charge of writing all regulatory documentation and for experimental procedure approval. Coordinated and executed non-human primate implants and neural recordings.» Contributed to writing grant proposals that helped secure yearly funding (>500K dollars). » Helped acquire, consolidate, and establish new collaborations, resulting in multiple publications and grant renewals each year.==============Scientific summaryThe perception of where and how fast we travel is crucial to navigating and interacting with the world. Our brain uses a mix of environmental cues, such as passing a tree or a light post, and internal sensory information from our body. Our brain must estimate where we are going and how fast through these complex sets of cues. Self-motion perception in our brain uses visual and non-visual stimuli to gather all the information we need to navigate the world. How do these signals interact in our brain? Where in our brain are these signals integrated? The answers to these questions have a crucial impact on knowing where you are and your motor actions (i.e. behavior). Typically a part of your brain, the parietal cortex, has been associated with the integration of these cues. We use advanced and sophisticated approaches (including VR and multi-area simultaneous recordings) to understand the brain areas involved in multi-sensory integration related to navigation, planning, and decision-making.

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

» Developed and established two different experimental techniques and a new line of research in two laboratories (human and non-human primate) resulting in at least 12 publications (peer-reviewed and scientific outreach). Used supervised learning models to analyze big datasets.» Wrote Institutional Review Board protocol and secured experimental approval. » Improved the approach to animal implants and helped accelerate cerebellar research in Europe as part of the Marie-Curie fellowship, resulting in multiple publications and a book chapter on cerebellar neural recordings.

Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands

» Developed and established two different experimental techniques and a new line of research in two laboratories (human and non-human primate) resulting in at least 12 publications (peer-reviewed and scientific outreach). Used supervised learning models to analyze big datasets.» Wrote Institutional Review Board protocol and secured experimental approval. » Improved the approach to animal implants and helped accelerate cerebellar research in Europe as part of the Marie-Curie fellowship, resulting in multiple publications and a book chapter on cerebellar neural recordings. ==============Scientific summaryAs a Ph.D. student, my research focused on identifying the neural correlates of cerebellar control of non-motor processes, delving into cerebellar disorders by unraveling the spatiotemporal correlation between cerebellar and prefrontal cortex activity, as well as the mechanisms underlying tDCS to cerebellar saccade plasticity and non-motor processes, supplying science with a new focus and understanding of cerebellar cognitive processes. I designed and built a new electrophysiology laboratory at the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience in Chris De Zeeuw's Lab. I implemented a new approach to experimental surgery and electrophysiological recordings in animals. I introduced and developed transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a revamped technique to modify brain behavior in Maarten Frens' Lab at Erasmus MC.

Eu

C7 Cerebellar-Cortical Control: Cells, Circuits, Computation, and Clinic. C7 was an initial training network under the FP7 Marie Curie Actions, that started in October 2009. It provided 17 young researchers with the opportunity to work in Europe's leading laboratories in cerebellar research.

Tlapa, Guerrero, Mexico

» Provided general health services and short-stay surgeries.» Managed the Mobile Medical Unit, which provides medical services to underserved communities in rural Mexico, and Telemedicine.

Ciudad De México Y Alrededores, México

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Neuroscience

Doctor Of Medicine (Md), Medicine

Activities and Societies: » Member of the Neuroscience and Biotechnology Laboratory (2005-2009) » President of the Medical School Alumni.

Bachelor'S Degree

Activities and Societies: » Varsity soccer team.

Education record

Activities and Societies: » Varsity soccer team. » Varsity handball team.