Magda’s Biography

30 years of work
experience

As an undergraduate, I became interested in the neural basis of behavior and had the chance to work in a research laboratory, which led to my first scientific publications. After graduation, I moved to the United States, obtaining my master’s and Ph.D. degrees and postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C.

 

In the early nineties, I had the opportunity to return to Mexico and to become part of the group of researchers that founded the Instituto de Neurobiología (INB) of the National University at a new campus in Juriquilla, Querétaro. At the INB, I started as an assistant professor and retired as a full professor in 2022.

My Career

My academic career involved doing basic research, teaching, mentoring students, and serving as a committee member in various capacities.

 

Basic research involves the review of the pertinent bibliography, the careful design of the study, and the use of specialized methods to measure and quantify the variables of interest. Advances of each experimental study are presented at scientific meetings, eventually leading to the study’s publication in peer-reviewed journals.

 

Running a laboratory includes administrative duties, personnel decisions, conflict resolution, procurement of funds, and budget management. Committee work requires the careful and critical review of documents, while working as dean of academic affairs requires organizational abilities, good interpersonal skills, and setting clear and objective goals.

90

Publications

11

Years in leadership positions

27

Theses directed

About Me

EDUCATION

Bachelor Degree

Psychology

Anáhuac University, México, 1984

 

Master of Sciences

Experimental Psychology

Ohio University, 1986

 

Ph.D.

Experimental Psychology

University of Cincinnati, 1991

RESEARCH

My research focused on studying changes in behavior due to injury to the central nervous system and searching for reparation strategies, such as neural transplants, using the basal ganglia as a model. I also collaborated in evaluating the effects of environmental toxicants. In the last decade of my academic life, I became interested in how culture influences brain function, eventually settling on studying pragmatic language and its neural and cognitive underpinnings.

LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

 

ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION

  • Dean of Academic Affairs Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Juriquilla, UNAM (2019-2022)
  • Chair of the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurobiology Department, Instituto de Neurobiología, UNAM (2015-2018)
  • Dean of Academic Affairs, Instituto de Neurobiología, UNAM (2008-2013)

 

COMMITTEE INVOLVEMENT

  • Founding member of the Ethics Committee, Instituto de Neurobiología, UNAM
  • Ethics Committee, Graduate Program in Psychology, Facultad de Psicología, UNAM (2019-2022)
  • Ethics Committee, President, AGreenSkills Program, INRA and Agreenium, co-financed by the European Commission (2013-2019)
  • Councilor, Society for Neuroscience (2016-2021)
  • Latin American Training Program consulting group, Society for Neuroscience (2013-2018)
  • Government and Public Affairs Committee, Society for Neuroscience (2011-2014)
  • Evaluation commissions CONACYT (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
  • Faculty representative before the Council for Scientific Research, UNAM (2003-2006)
  • Faculty representative before the Internal Council, Instituto de Neurobiología, UNAM (2000-2002)

 

Other

  • Lecturer in Research Methods and Statistics.
  • Ad hoc reviewer for scientific publications such as Scientific Reports, Neurotoxicology, Trends in Neurosciences, Behavioural Brain Research, Revista Mexicana de Psicología, among others.
  • Member of the Palliative Care group of the Bioethics Unit of the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.