David Fitzpatrick Email & Phone Number

David Fitzpatrick is Scientific Director and CEO of Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Appointed as founding Director in 2011, Dr. Fitzpatrick led the institute’s expansion to now ten research laboratories with a workforce of over 140, including more than 85 scientific staff. Prior to assuming this position, he was the James B. Duke Professor of Neurobiology at the Duke University School of Medicine and founding Director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. In this capacity, he led the development of numerous cross-school, interdisciplinary initiatives that spawned new areas of collaborative research, recruited new faculty, and supported the development of new educational programs in the neurosciences. Dr. Fitzpatrick’s scientific contributions have earned him international recognition as a leader in systems neuroscience, with a focus on the functional organization and development of neural circuits in the cerebral cortex. He has authored over 90 scholarly papers including articles in high impact journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, and Neuron. He has received a number of awards for his scientific accomplishments including the McKnight Neuroscience Investigator Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Award, the Cajal Club Cortical Discoverer Award, the John Lisman Memorial Lecture in Vision Science, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.