Michael P. Kilgard

Michael P. Kilgard, PhD, is the Margaret Fonde Jonsson Professor at The University of Texas at Dallas, where he also serves as Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of the Texas Biomedical Device Center. His work focuses on understanding and directing neural plasticity to improve recovery from neurological and psychiatric conditions. Dr. Kilgard earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993, and completed his doctorate in neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco, in 1998, where he trained in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Merzenich and investigated mechanisms of auditory cortical plasticity. Since joining UT Dallas in 1999, he has published more than 130 peer reviewed papers in high impact journals and holds 25 U.S. patents. His research has been supported by major agencies including DARPA, NINDS, and NIDCD. His laboratory pioneered Targeted Plasticity Therapy (TPT), demonstrating that brief, pre