David J. Perkel, PhD
Biography
David J. Perkel, PhD, joined the University of Washington in 2000 and is currently professor in the Departments of Biology and Otolaryngology. He is also adjunct professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics. He currently serves as director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program. Prior to joining UW, he earned his PhD in neuroscience at the University of California at San Francisco and did postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology. From 1995-2000 he held a faculty position in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.
Current CV
Overview
Undergraduate Education: Harvard College, A.B., 1984
Graduate Education: Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, 1992
Fellowship: Postdoctoral researcher, California Institute of Technology
Memberships: Society for Neuroscience, American Physiological Society, Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Specialties
No results
Awards and Honors
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Scholar Award (2015-2018)
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Traveling Scholar Award
Invited Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne
Scholar in Residence, University of Pennsylvania
Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Publications
Research Areas
Research Focus
Vocal learning in songbirds is an experimentally accessible model system for studying neural mechanisms of vocal imitation. We use multiple methodologies to dissect brain circuits involved in allowing birds to copy songs made by other birds, in a fashion similar to human speech learning. We also study mechanisms of bipedal balance using birds as a model organism.