Psychology Professor Shayna Rosenbaum is an acclaimed Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Neuropsychologist who has changed the way we think about memory. As Full Professor of Psychology and York Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory, she is a world expert on the neural basis of memory with a track record of original research that meets the highest standards in her field. Combining neuropsychology with neuroimaging and innovative cognitive paradigms, Professor Rosenbaum has made important discoveries in specifying the function of the hippocampal memory system, and vulnerability to aging and age-related disease.
Her significant research findings include, showing that the hippocampus is not always needed to support remote spatial memory, presenting major challenges to classic theories; identifying a network of neocortical regions that supports remote spatial memories and can compensate for impaired hippocampal function; and specifying the role of the hippocampus in non-memory functions, such as decision-making. Over the last 3 years, she has applied this knowledge to develop cognitive strategies, including ones to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, serving as Principal Investigator on Tri-Council-funded initiatives to optimize decision-making and learning, together with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Professor Rosenbaum has over 125 peer-reviewed publications, with more than 10,000 citations. Over 25 of these were produced in the last 3 years, and she is first or senior author on many of them. Her research appears in prestigious journals, including recent papers in iScience, Nature, Nature Human Behaviour, and Psychological Science. She has given multiple invited talks at national and international conferences. Her work is important both for its clinical implications, and for its deep theoretical insight into hippocampal-neocortical function.
Professor Rosenbaum’s work has gained diverse media attention from Canadian news sources including CTV, the Toronto Star, the National Post and in U.S. media including the New York Times and National Public Radio. She was profiled in Maclean’s Magazine, as one of the “world’s neuroscience superstars.” She has served as expert commentator for the journal Nature, CBC, Canadian Press, and the Globe and Mail. She has also been recognized as a Sloan Fellow and with multiple early career awards from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, CIHR, Canadian Association for Neuroscience, the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, the International Neuropsychological Society, and York’s Faculty of Health. She was recognized with a 2018-2019 James McKeen Cattell Sabbatical Award, a 2010 Faculty of Health Research Award in the Early Career Category, the 2015 inaugural President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award at York, and inaugural membership in the College of the Royal Society of Canada. These awards are clear indicators of her national and international status.
She also received significant funding both as principal investigator with more than $3.5M in continuous funding from CIHR, NSERC, and other external sources, and as a co-investigator, including both of York’s major CFREF grants. More broadly, Professor Rosenbaum has supervised over 150 students and fellows, many of whom have received competitive scholarships and thesis awards and who have gone on to their own successful careers.
Her expertise and leadership has significantly advanced York as a global leader in Clinical Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.
