Gary D. Paige, M.D., Ph.D.

1966-1970 Secondary Education Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan Major in music, minor in broadcasting.
1970-1974 College Education University of California at Irvine BS,1974 Irvine, California. Major in Biological Sciences
1974-1980 Post-Graduate Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Education Sciences. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois PhD, 1980
1974-1981 Medical School University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois MD, 1981
1981-1982 Clinical Internship Department of Anesthesiology Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
1982-1985 Clinical Residency Department of Ophthalmology University of California, San Francisco, California

Positions:

1998 - Present Professor | Neurobiology and Anatomy | SMD Primary Appointment
1997 - 1998 Professor | Neurology | SMD Primary Appointment
1990 - 1997 Associate Professor | Neurology | SMD Primary Appointment
1990 - 1990 Visiting Associate Professor | Neurology | SMD Visiting or Adjunct Appointment
1998 - Present Chairman | Neurobiology and Anatomy | SMD Primary Administrative
1998 - Present Kilian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Professorship in Neurobiology and Anatomy | Neurobiology and Anatomy | SMD Named Professorship/Chair
2008 - Present Professor | Otolaryngology | SMD Joint Appointment
2001 - Present Professor | Biomedical Engineering | SMD Joint Appointment
1998 - Present Professor | Neurology | SMD Joint Appointment
1999 - 2009 Professor | Brain/Cognitive Sciences | RC Joint Appointment
1997 - 2009 Professor | Ophthalmology | SMD Joint Appointment
1999 - 2006 Professor | Center for Visual Science | RC Joint Appointment
2000 - 2003 Professor | Otolaryngology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 2000 Associate Professor | Otolaryngology | SMD Joint Appointment
1996 - 1999 Associate Professor | Brain/Cognitive Sciences | RC Joint Appointment
1990 - 1999 Associate Professor | Center for Visual Science | RC Joint Appointment
1997 - 1998 Professor | Neurobiology and Anatomy | SMD Joint Appointment
1996 - 1997 Associate Professor | Pharmacology and Physiology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 1997 Associate Professor | Ophthalmology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 1995 Associate Professor | Physiology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 1990 Visiting Associate Professor | Center for Visual Science | RC Joint Appointment
1990 - 1990 Visiting Associate Professor | Ophthalmology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 1990 Visiting Associate Professor | Physiology | SMD Joint Appointment
1990 - 1990 Visiting Associate Professor | Otolaryngology | SMD Joint Appointment

Honors:

1970 Academic Honors Award.Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan
1972, summer National Science Foundation Research Participation Award.Department of Psychobiology, University of California, Irvine, California
1974 Graduated B.S. cum laude and With Honors.University of California, Irvine, California
1974-1975 J. Franks Fund Scholarship Award. University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
1975-1981 Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D., Ph.D.) University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1984 Michael J. Hogan Award Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California
1991 Traveling Fellowship, Royal College of Surgeons Foundation Royal College of Surgeons of England, Ossining, New York
1995 Neuro-Otological Society of Australia Honorary life member.
1997 The Arthur Kornberg Research Award
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
1999 Studium Generale (keynote) presentation. Nijmegen Institute of Neuroscience.
Einstein and Euclid: Implications for Spatial Orientation. University of Nijmegen. Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2002-2004 President: Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs.
2007- Vice President and Program Director: Society for the Neural Control of Movement.

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Multisensory Interaction and Adaptive Plasticity in Spatial Localization and Orientation.

The sensori-neural processes underlying our abilities to localize, track, and interact with a cluttered environment are crucial attributes of daily life, and are among the most fundamental tasks of the nervous system. The integration of multiple sensory inputs are required to guide spatial behaviors, ranging from mundane tasks such as reaching for objects to complex ones such as navigating to and from the workplace. These functions are also among the first (and often most subtle) to register problems after head trauma, neurological disease, and aging. The goal of our research is to understand how the brain integrates sensory inputs from the outside world (location and motion of visual and auditory targets) with those of the internal senses (vestibular and somatosensory depictions of orientation and motion of the body and its parts,) to achieve meaningful spatial perceptions and behaviors (eye, head and postural movements and reflexes). An equally important interest is how plastic neural mechanisms register errors and adaptively adjust performance in order to maintain proper spatial calibration across sensory modalities, or analogously, recover normal function after suffering pathologic loss. Finally, an important translational concern is how the neural degeneration of natural aging affects spatial behavior and plasticity.

Current experiments address two intriguing areas of interest. One is understanding how the brain utilizes auditory and visual information about target location and motion in order to maintain accurate and congruent spatial calibration across modalities, as assessed through different forms of orienting movements ("pointing"). These include visually-guided manual pointing by laser joystick, and more natural gaze (eye and head) pointing. Since gaze shifts activate vestibular reflexes (vestibulo-ocular and –collic reflexes: VOR and VCR) as well as somatosensory feedback from the neck, we are studying how the senses interact with each other and with volitional and reflex motor control. We are also investigating the important challenges of spatial memory when targets are transient, as occurs frequently in nature. Finally, we are interested in how spatial sensory modalities are plastically co-calibrated by cross-sensory experience--an essential feature normal spatial behavior over a lifetime.

A second focus is how vestibular inputs during both angular (from the semicircular canals) and linear (from the otoliths) head motion interact with each other, despite an intriguing limitation in the physics of the linear form (Einstein's "equivalency principle"). As biological linear accelerometers, the otolith organs cannot readily distinguish accelerations due to head tilt (relative to gravity) from those arising during translational (as opposed to angular) motion, and yet relevant behaviors and perceptions associated with these two forms of motion differ greatly. We are characterizing the compromised but fascinating solutions that have evolved to help resolve (albeit imperfectly) this sensory ambiguity.

Our research environment is unique in structure and instrumentation, as well as broad and translational in character. We benefit from a collegiate and multi-disciplinary group of faculty working on problems of common interest.

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