Andreas H. Burkhalter, PhD

Andreas H. Burkhalter, PhD, professor of neuroscience, is recognized as an international leader in the field of neuroscience research.

He is known as an exceptional neuroscientist who has made fundamental discoveries to advance our understanding of the organization and function of the mammalian visual cortex. Investigators worldwide now recognize this field as one of the exciting frontiers of 21st century systems neuroscience. In recent work, he has discovered a novel organizing principle — periodic patches of parallel pathways — in primary visual cortex and extrastriate cortical areas of mice and confirmed that this feature is conserved in non-visual cortical areas of mice and in higher mammals, including primates.

Burkhalter has held uninterrupted extramural R01 support for his research since 1985. In addition to his scientific excellence, he has been an outstanding teacher for more than 30 years in both the graduate student and medical neuroscience courses at Washington University.

He served as the Wiersma Visiting Professor at California Institute of Technology in 2013. He earned his master’s degree in zoology and doctoral degree in neuroscience from the University of Zurich in 1973 and 1978, respectively. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the California Institute of Technology and at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Washington University faculty in 1985.