Matthew A. Howard III, M.D.
Site Principal Investigator, University of Iowa

Dr. Howard is Professor and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa College of Medicine in Iowa City and adjunct faculty member in Neurology. 

He obtained his bachelors degree in physics and biology at Tufts University, went on to a medical degree at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and trained in neurosurgery, specializing in epilepsy surgery, at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he also did postdoctoral research.

As director of the Human Brain Research Laboratory (HBRL), he has brought together researchers from multiple scientific disciplines and various collaborating institutions to study the neural mechanisms in the human brain that underlie sensory, perceptual and cognitive processes related to hearing, speech, language and emotional behavior.

This research uses the opportunities provided by the implantation of depth or grid electrodes for surgical evaluation in patients with epilepsy. Recordings are made of single neuron activity and local field potentials in the extra-operative setting on the ward, and electrical stimulation is carried out both intra- and extra-operatively.

Selected Publications