Dr. Doug Munoz

Doug Munoz received his Ph.D. from McGill University in 1988 in Neurology and Neurosurgery followed by a Post-doctoral Fellow at McGill and subsequently at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. He came to Queen’s in 1991 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology.  He currently holds a position of Professor in the Departments of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and Medicine, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and is the Director of the Centre for Neuroscience Studies.

The main goals of his research are devoted to: 1) understanding the neural circuitry controlling visual fixation and the generation of saccadic eye movements, and 2) using our knowledge of this circuitry to probe a variety of neurological and psychiatric  disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimers, Tourette’s Syndrome and ALS.

He currently holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and was awarded the Premier’s Research Excellence Award in 1999, the Basmajian Award in 1997 and the Aesculapian Society Teaching Award in 2001.  He is currently funded with multiple grants by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Brain Institute.  Doug is also involved in many joint funding initiatives which includes an Ontario Research Fund project and NSERC Create Program.  He is an active collaborator with internationally recognized scientists from the United States, Netherlands, Brazil, France and Japan. 

Dr. Munoz is currently supervising 4 postdoctoral fellows, 4 Ph.D. students, 2 MSc students and numerous trainees both at the undergraduate level, medical school students and residents.  Of his students who have completed their Ph.D’s in his laboratory, two were awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal and one was awarded the Lindsley Prize by the Society for Neuroscience for the most outstanding thesis in behavioural neuroscience.  These individuals have already been recruited to faculty positions in Canada.  Two former postdocs also have faculty appointments in Canada.  Many undergraduate research project students and graduate students have moved into professional programs (e.g. Medicine, Optometry) with at least some research training.