Professor John Donoghue

Professor John Donoghue is the H.M. Wriston Professor of Neuroscience and Engineering at Brown University and a pioneer in the development of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) to restore function in people with paralysis. His research has advanced understanding of how brain networks transform intention into action, revealing the neural codes that underlie skilled movement.

A faculty member at Brown since 1986, John has published more than 125 scientific articles spanning neural computation, neurotechnology, clinical translation, and neuroethics. The BCI system he developed, known as BrainGate, has enabled people with tetraplegia to use thought alone to control computer cursors and robotic arms and has restored reach and grasp to paralyzed arms through electrical stimulation. The research showed that even years after injury, the brain retains its ability to generate complex movement commands, challenging long-held assumptions about paralysis.

He was the founding leader of Brown’s Department of Neuroscience, the Brown Institute for Brain Science (now the Carney Institute for Brain Science) and the Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology at the Providence VA Medical Center. From 2015 to 2019, he served as the inaugural director of the Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuroengineering in Geneva, Switzerland, to advance the translation of device therapies.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and AIMBE. His honours include the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience, the Israel Brain Prize, and the Erwin Schrödinger Prize. He served on President Obama's BRAIN Initiative advisory committee, was a co-founder of the foundational neurotechnology company Cyberkinetics, and currently serves in advisory and board roles for neurotechnology companies and for the NIH.