Dr. Tomáš Paus is a distinguished neuroscientist and leading authority in population neuroscience who currently serves as Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of Montreal and Scientist at the Research Centre of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine. He also holds the position of Senior Scientist and Anne & Max Tanenbaum Chair in Population Neuroscience at the Rotman Research Institute while maintaining a professorship in Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Paus earned his M.D. from Purkyne University in Brno, Czech Republic in 1986 followed by a Ph.D. in normal and pathological physiology from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1990. His career trajectory demonstrates a remarkable evolution from early work focused on brain structure and function to pioneering the interdisciplinary field of population neuroscience that integrates epidemiology, genetics, and neuroimaging.
Dr. Paus has made seminal contributions to understanding the structural and functional organization of the human brain, particularly through his innovative development of techniques combining transcranial magnetic stimulation with neuroimaging to measure in vivo functional connectivity. His research on the anterior cingulate cortex established its crucial role as an interface between motor and cognitive processes, with his Nature Reviews Neuroscience review paper accumulating over 1,897 citations. With scholarly work cited more than 71,000 times, Dr. Paus has fundamentally reshaped investigations into brain development across the lifespan, especially during adolescence, by integrating genetic, environmental, and neuroimaging data. His groundbreaking book Population Neuroscience published by Springer in 2013 formally established this emerging discipline that examines brain health at the population level.
As a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award and Gold Medal of Masaryk University, Dr. Paus has significantly influenced the global neuroscience community through his editorial leadership as Associate Editor of Human Brain Mapping and Social Neuroscience. His research draws on data from multiple international cohorts across North and South America and Europe to investigate the complex interplay between genes, environment, and brain development. Dr. Paus continues to lead innovative population studies examining the roles of maternal and fetal genes in cerebral cortex development, with his work providing crucial insights for understanding lifelong risks of mental illness and addiction. His ongoing research maintains the pioneering spirit that has defined his career, bridging traditional neuroscience with population health approaches to advance our understanding of brain health across the human lifespan.
