Meet Our Scientific Advisory Board Member Dr. Ken Pugh
Jefferson Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute is a leader in neuroscience and neurorehabilitation research, and our expert scientific advisory board provides valuable insights and guidance to advance our mission. Ken Pugh, PhD, has served as President and Director of Research for Haskins Laboratories in Connecticut for many years. He also holds appointments as Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Connecticut, and as an Associate Professor at the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale University School of Medicine. Like our Institute, Haskins Laboratories has a rich history conducting interdisciplinary research investigating language and the biology of human communication. This mutual interest in language research has sparked numerous conversations and fruitful collaborations over the years. Dr. Pugh has been a member of our Scientific Advisory Board for about a decade, and he has generously shared his expertise in neuroimaging and language, as well as his extensive knowledge of how to successfully lead a top-tier federally-funded research institution. In this interview, he shares more about his background, his research, and his experiences on our Scientific Advisory Board.
How did you get interested in psychology and cognitive neuroscience?
When I was young, I was fascinated by how the mind works and the nature of consciousness. The more I read and learned, the more interested I became. In particular, I wanted to learn more about the mind by controlling it with things like meditation. Over the years, there has been increased research interest in how meditation and mindfulness can impact the nervous system, but this was a relatively new idea at that time. At sixteen years old, I traveled to India and began training as a monastic in the Jain tradition. During my seven years of study, I developed a deep passion to more precisely understand the human brain, especially the links between science and the ancient philosophies I was immersed in.
My teacher encouraged me to go to college to pursue my interests, so I enrolled at New York Institute of Technology where I majored in Psychology. As I considered my career options, it became clear that research in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience would be a good fit. I completed graduate school in Experimental Psychology at The Ohio State University, and I was invited to join Haskins Laboratories immediately afterwards. I’ve remained at Haskins ever since, with joint appointments early on at Holy Cross College and then Dartmouth College, and subsequent appointments at Yale University and the University of Connecticut when I was appointed President of Haskins.
Can you tell us more about your research and/or a contribution to the field that you are most proud of?
Through my research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), I have contributed to our understanding of how individual differences in brain connections and activity are linked to variation in language, reading, and other behaviors, particularly in pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders, including learning disabilities, autism, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I have led work examining brain-behavior relationships, and this work has provided key biological grounding for understanding things like language and reading. My early work in neuroimaging also helped lay the foundation for more contemporary approaches to neuroimaging research where scientists focus on how different brain systems work together (functional connectivity), rather than examining activity only in a particular region.
While my academic accomplishments are important to me, I’m particularly proud of my work as a psycholinguist/cognitive neuroscientist studying how skilled readers (across many languages) get from seeing content to understanding meaning in a matter of milliseconds. This area of research on reading has provided opportunities for me to have real, meaningful impacts for children who learn differently. Applying my academic skills and experience, I have developed innovative research projects to better understand learning differences, co-authored a UNESCO Report on global education, and served on various panels where my insights can help inform changes to clinical and educational systems to improve outcomes for children.
In addition, along with colleagues Dr. Fumiko Hoeft and Dr. Ben Powers, I founded the Haskins Global Literacy Hub where we are working to better understand how early brain and cognitive development set children up for success or failure in reading, and how discoveries from research can be leveraged in the classroom and clinic, particularly in underserved areas. This work on global education, at the intersection of science and policy, has been particularly rewarding as well.
In this later portion of my career, I also hope to continue to contribute to our understanding of the impacts of the cultivation of mindfulness, serving as a bridge between the scientific and contemplative perspectives. Scientifically, researchers are interested in using mindfulness to examine how the brain works, how it breaks down in disease, and how we can fix it. My monastic background gives me a unique perspective because meditation traditions focus more on how well our brain could work if we could control it, calm it, and understand it. Bringing these two perspectives together could drive exciting and impactful new research.
Can you tell us more about your interactions with the Institute and Institute faculty as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board?
Being part of the Scientific Advisory Board has been an important and beneficial experience for me. It’s inspiring to see the way that the Institute and its faculty are growing, adapting, and continuing to do high-quality science. It’s a great team, and Dr. Edwards is an excellent leader. Through our regular meetings, we’re able to help each other navigate complex transitions, consider untapped opportunities, and discuss strategies and logistics that benefit both of our organizations.
What have you enjoyed most about working with the team at the Institute?
Our shared history, mutual research interests, and connections with leaders in the field, like Dr. Myrna Schwartz, are what initially connected me with the Institute, but the leadership, the vision, and the creativity of Institute faculty has kept me involved and engaged for many years. With the community of researchers they have put together, they are really pushing the envelope in the field in a number of ways, including new tools for modeling the dynamics of language, as well as modeling treatment and remediation of language disorders. The faculty are doing really innovative work in their respective fields, and I’ve enjoyed being part of the conversations about the future of the Institute and the future of our research fields.
As an expert in the field, what do you think is one of the biggest challenges or opportunities right now in cognitive neuroscience and neurorehabilitation?
In the area of language, we are facing challenges in connecting what we know from research to what is actually done in classrooms. The better the science is, the easier it will be to cross that divide. We need to better understand the biology of reading and language and develop a more biologically-informed approach to learning. We’re making progress, but we still have a long way to go to bridge this gap between cognitive neuroscience and education or clinical practice. To facilitate progress, scientists, educators, and clinicians should be in conversation and listen to each other. Transdisciplinary approaches can help advance the field, but we need to take the time to have these critical exchanges.