Linda Richards AO

About

After completing her PhD at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Professor Richards spent 11 years in the USA, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute and then as a group leader at The University of Maryland Baltimore. She returned to Australia in 2005, and was subsequently awarded an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship in 2006, followed by promotion to Principal Research Fellow in 2011. In 2015 Professor Richards was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2016. In 2019 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (General Division). From 2015-2020 Professor Richards was Deputy Direct (Research) at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland. From 2017-2020 Professor Richards was Co-Chair of the Australian Brain Alliance and a founding member and spokesperson for the International Brain Initiative. In January 2018 she became a member of the International Brain Laboratory Advisory Board. She was President of the Australasian Neuroscience Society 2017/2018. Currently she is the Edison Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University in St Louis, MO, USA. Professor Richards' research investigates how the brain is wired during development. She is an expert on the development of the corpus callosum and callosal disorders. Her current research investigates molecular and activity dependent mechanisms of brain wiring and how brain wiring underpins behavior and cognitive function. Professor Richards is also passionate about promoting new discoveries to the public. She is a scientific advisor to the patient support group AusDoCC (Australian Disorders of the Corpus Callosum) and founded the Australian Brain Bee Challenge in 2006.