Western’s Adrian Owen elected Fellow of the Royal Society
By Jeff Renaud, special to Schulich Medicine & Dentistry
World-renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen was elected May 16 to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the U.K.’s national academy of science.
Recognized for their invaluable contributions to science, elected Fellows are leaders in their fields. This year’s Fellows include Owen, former chief scientific advisor to the U.S. president Anthony Fauci, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Emmanuelle Charpentier and Emmy winner Andrew Fitzgibbons for his contributions to 3D camera tracker software.
“I am pleased to welcome such an outstanding group into the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society. “This new cohort have already made significant contributions to our understanding of the world around us and continue to push the boundaries of possibility in academic research and industry. It is an honour to have them join the Fellowship.”
Named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2018, Owen is the international authority on disorders of consciousness. Using brain imaging, he discovered that some patients who appear to be in a vegetative state can understand what they hear and, most importantly, can also think as instructed, allowing them to communicate with the outside world.
Owen, who joined Western from the University of Cambridge in 2010 as the Canada Excellence Research Chair of Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging, also discovered some patients can spontaneously understand a story’s narrative through film and that this ability is a good predictor of whether they will recover from the vegetative state. His groundbreaking studies are central to our scientific understanding of consciousness in humans.
“I am deeply honoured and humbled to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. The Royal Society is one of the oldest scientific institutions in the world, focused on advancing scientific knowledge and addressing the most pressing challenges facing the world today,” said Owen, professor in cognitive neuroscience and imaging at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
“To be elected as a Fellow is a testament to the collective efforts and contributions of my colleagues, mentors and collaborators throughout my career (and there have been many). I am absolutely delighted.”
Owen is the fifth Western faculty member to be elected as a Fellow, joining his close friend and neuroscience colleague Distinguished University Professor Melvyn Goodale, Distinguished University Professor and chemist Richard J. Puddephatt, former dean of science and geochemist William Fyfe (1927- 2013) and Western’s first full professor of physiology Fred Miller (1881-1967).
“Adrian Owen exemplifies Western’s commitment to world-changing research and we are delighted to see this recognition of his extraordinary work,” said Western President Alan Shepard. “His breakthrough discoveries using imaging to understand and communicate with patients in a vegetative state continue to inspire us and push Western to continue investing in critical neuroscience research to reveal more mysteries of the brain.”
Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists. It is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Fellows include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
The 2024 Royal Society Fellows:
- 30 per cent of this year’s Fellows, Foreign Members and Honorary Fellows are women.
- New Fellows have been elected from 23 U.K. institutions, including British Antarctic Survey, the Natural History Museum, University of Nottingham and University of Strathclyde.
- Fellows hail from countries including Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico and Singapore.
