SfN Welcomes First President-Elect from Outside North America

WASHINGTON, DC — The membership of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) recently elected Barry Everitt, president-elect, the first member based outside of North America to hold the position since the Society was founded in 1969. Albert Aguayo, a Canadian neuroscientist at McGill University in Quebec, served in 1987 as the Society’s first president based outside the U.S.

Everitt, a professor and director of research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, also serves as provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust. He was elected to SfN’s Council in 2014, and has served in a number of leadership roles in the Society, including as Program Committee Chair in 2012. Most recently he was president of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

“Dr. Everitt is an inspirational leader whose global vision will bring valuable perspective to the Society now and into the future,” said SfN President Richard Huganir.

Huganir noted that the pursuit of knowledge and discoveries in neuroscience, as in all scientific fields, increasingly leverage the power of global connections. “SfN continues to work with its membership to facilitate meaningful opportunities to forge new collaborations across disciplines and continents to advance the field,” he said. “The significance of electing a non-North American leader at this time of international challenges cannot be overstated. I hope that bringing a more focused global perspective to the Society will be a significant advantage to our entire membership.”

SfN has a rich history of support and collaboration with neuroscience societies around the world. Beyond joint trainee awards, which support travel to conferences between North American trainees and members of FENS societies, the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), and the Japanese Neuroscience Society (JNS) to attend each other’s conferences, SfN is also engaged with joint training and advocacy activities with these and other international partners.

The Society’s membership includes a broad spectrum of neuroscientists from countries around the world with members outside the U.S. representing nearly 40 percent of SfN’s membership, 2017 meeting attendees and abstract submitters as well as 60 percent of 2017 manuscript submissions to the Society’s journals.

According to Everitt, his involvement with SfN has been a source of learning and pleasure. “My goal is to help the Society continue to fulfill its mission of global intellectual inquiry and to support neuroscience training, outreach and advocacy internationally,” he said. “I am most honored by the confidence that my fellow members have placed in me to lead during this extraordinary time.”

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of nearly 36,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and the nervous system.