Congratulations to Dr. Catharine Rankin on receiving the Pavlovian Society’s Gantt Medal for her impactful and distinguished work on the mechanisms of non-associative learning and memory!
The Gantt Medal, established by the Society following the death of W. Horsley Gantt in 1980, is awarded to individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the fields of psychology, physiology, behavioural neuroscience, psychophysiology, mental health or medicine within the confines of Pavlovian conceptual models or who have contributed significantly to the functioning of the Society.
Dr. Catharine Rankin, a member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She is internationally recognized for her work using an invertebrate model system to address fundamental psychological questions about the effects of experience on the nervous system and behaviour. Her research is focused on understanding how experience changes the nervous system.
Dr. Rankin was the first to show that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is capable of learning and memory, and has uncovered genes that play important roles in learning and memory. Her lab uses behavioural, neural circuit and genetic analyses to determine the mechanisms through which experience alters the nervous system. Dr. Rankin’s research sheds light on the cellular mechanisms of habituation, the simplest form of learning.
