The University of Michigan led the nation with 20 faculty members elected as 2021 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The U-M researchers are among 564 scientists, engineers and innovators, spanning 24 scientific disciplines, recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements, AAAS announced Jan. 26. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. Selection as an AAAS fellow is among the most distinct honors within the scientific community.
Dr. Stephan Taylor, professor of psychiatry, Medical School; associate chair for research and research regulatory affairs in the Department of Psychiatry; adjunct professor of psychology, LSA, was recognized for distinguished contributions in research for developing and improving treatments for psychiatric disorders.
The AAAS requires nomination letters from three members -- Kent Berridge, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.); Denise C. Park, Ph.D.; and David H. Zald, Ph.D. nominated Dr. Taylor.
"Dr. Taylor is an outstanding research psychiatrist and affective and neuroscientist. His work has made major contributions to the scientific understanding of the brain bases of emotions and of psychiatric disorders, including depression, OCD, schizophrenia and PTSD.
Dr. Taylor’s cross-disciplinary scientific contributions have been recognized far beyond his home department of Psychiatry in the Medical School. He has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Psychology in the College of Letters, Sciences & Arts at the University of Michigan. He often publishes with individuals across diverse units on campus, including Kinesiology, Social Work, Pharmacy, Statistics, Biostatistics, Engineering and the fMRI laboratory. He has also mentored many students and junior colleagues from several units across the University of Michigan."
-Kent Berridge, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.)
AAAS Fellow (Section J)
James Olds Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of Michigan
"Over his career, Dr. Taylor has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers. His early work is notable for the application of a voxelwise metanalytic strategy to neuroimaging data in order to assess the neural substrates of emotion (with over 5000 citations combined for just the two most cited paper), and multiple seminal studies that revealed the neural correlates of anxiety disorders. His research productivity in the last 4 years has been particularly striking, with some 45 peer reviewed papers in published or in press. The breadth of his work in the last 4 years is particularly striking as it tackles the neural correlates and neuromodulatory treatment of multiple psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. Importantly, this work moves beyond just identifying the neural circuits of these conditions but utilizes the knowledge of these circuits to select targets for using neuromodulatory techniques including deep brain stimulation and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to treat these challenging conditions. For example, in a key 2017 paper, his group validated that the connectivity of a key cortical brain region (the subgenual cingulate) assessed with MRI was predictive of treatment effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation in major depression, and in other work has monitored how changes in connectivity with treatment are related to treatment responses. With these studies, he has provided a key translational bridge that is helping to channel insights from studies of neural circuits into psychiatric treatment."
-David H. Zald, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging
Henry Rutgers Professor of Psychiatry
Rutgers Brain Health Institute
"Steve has won numerous awards both national and regional for his work and has also made many service contributions to professional organizations and the community. He has a long history of editorial service to many national organizations and is equally strong at the local level of community talks and engagement. Service is an important aspect of AAAS Fellowship as Steve can counted on to step up to the plate for the organization. In short, Steve is an ideal candidate for AAAS Fellowship as he excels in all domains of research, clinical practice and service which is characteristic of a very narrow set of scientists. He embodies the values of AAAS and this is a particular factor for my enthusiasm with respect to his candidacy."
-Denise C. Park, Ph.D.
Distinguished University Chair of Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Director of Research, Center for Vital Longevity
University of Texas at Dallas
Find the entire list of 2021 AAAS Fellows here
