People: Emery N. Brown

Bio

Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D. is the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at MIT; the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School; and an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics (magna cum laude) from Harvard College, his M.A. and Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University and his M.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Medical School. Professor Brown completed his internship in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his anesthesiology residency at MGH. Professor Brown is an anesthesiologist-statistician whose research is defining the neuroscience of how anesthetics produce the states of general anesthesia. He also develops statistical methods and signal processing algorithms for neuroscience data analysis.

Professor Brown is a fellow of the ASA, IMS, IEEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and National Academy of Engineering and the American Philosophical Society. Professor Brown has received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship in Applied Mathematics, the American Society of Anesthesiologists Excellence in Research Award, the Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, the Gruber Prize in Neuroscience, and Doctors of Science Honoris Causa from the USC and SUNY Downstate.

Research

Research areas: Neurophysiology of General Anesthesia; Neural Signal Processing

General anesthesia is a pharmacologically mediated state consisting of antinociception, unconsciousness, amnesia, immobility, with maintenance of physiological stability (heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and respiration). Today, more than 300 million people worldwide receive general anesthesia each year to undergo surgery and invasive diagnostic procedures. Ether was first used as an anesthetic in1846. Its derivatives (sevoflurane, isoflurane and desflurane) remain among the most widely used anesthetic agents worldwide. Significant post-operative side effects such as nausea, vomiting, inadequate post-operative pain control and cognitive disorders remain highly prevalent. Post-operative cognitive disorders can range from delirium in children to significant memory difficulties in elderly patients (> 60 years). In fact, 20 to 30% of elderly patients will suffer some form of brain disorder following anesthesia. The memory impairment may last from several hours to several days. There has not been a new anesthetic since propofol came into use in the 1990’s.

Our research uses studies of anesthetics in humans, non-human primates, rodents and mathematical modeling to understand the neuroscience of general anesthesia. Our objectives are to: define the neurophysiology of how anesthetics act in the brain and central nervous system to create altered states of arousal; develop new, site-specific anesthetic approaches; design ways to accelerate return of consciousness following general anesthesia; develop new systems to monitor and accurately control the anesthetic state of patients in the operating room and in the intensive care unit.

Neural Signal Processing

Technological and experimental advances in the capabilities to record signals from neural systems have led to an unprecedented increase in the types and volume of data collected in neuroscience experiments and hence, in the need for appropriate techniques to analyze them. Therefore, using combinations of likelihood, Bayesian, state-space, time-series and point process approaches, a primary focus of the research in my laboratory is the development of statistical methods and signal-processing algorithms for neuroscience data analysis.

Selected Awards/Societies

• 2023 American Philosophical Society
• 2022 Gruber Neuroscience Prize
• 2022 Pierre M. Galletti Award, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
• 2020 DeWitt Stetten Lecture, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
• 2020 Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience
• 2020 John and Elizabeth Phillips Award, Phillips Exeter Academy
• 2019 Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, University of Southern California
• 2019 Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno Lecture (in Spanish), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• 2018 Dickson Prize in Science
• 2018 Member, Florida Inventors Hall of Fame
• 2017 Medallion Lecture, Institute of Mathematical Statistics
• 2017 Severinghaus Lecture on Translational Science, American Society of Anesthesiologists
• 2017 Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering
• 2016 Fellow, Institute of Mathematical Statistics
• 2015 Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
• 2015 Award for Excellence in Research, American Society of Anesthesiologists
• 2015 Member, National Academy of Engineering
• 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Applied Mathematics
• 2014 Member, National Academy of Sciences
• 2012 NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award
• 2012 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2011 Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research, National Institute for Statistical Science
• 2008 Black Enterprise Magazine, America’s Leading Doctors
• 2008 Fellow, IEEE
• 2007 Member, National Academy of Medicine
• 2007 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award
• 2007 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2006 Fellow, American Statistical Association
• 2006 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
• 2002 Member, Association of University Anesthesiologists