Colin Hoy, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Neurology
School of Medicine

I’m a neuroscientist and postdoctoral scholar in the UCSF Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Center studying motivation in Parkinson’s disease with Drs. Simon Little and Phil Starr and neuroethics with Dr. Winston Chiong.

Show full bio (180 words) Hide full bio

In the Little and Starr Labs, our group aims to treat motor and nonmotor (e.g., sleep, cognition, emotion) deficits in patients with Parkinson’s disease using neurosurgically implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices. My main research project focuses on understanding apathy and impulsivity symptoms in these patients by (1) measuring goal-directed and habitual decision making with computational reinforcement learning models; (2) mapping these cognitive processes to neural activity using chronic invasive brain recordings; and (3) modulating these neural circuits using dopaminergic medications and DBS.

With Dr. Chiong, I’m studying bioethics to better understand the ethical, legal, and social implications of neurotechnology. I hope that combining neuroethics with my basic and clinical neuroscience research will help inform guidelines for the responsible use of neurotechnology.

I graduated in 2012 from Hendrix College with a BA in Neuroscience before spending two years as a postbaccalaureate researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health working on functional MRI methods. In 2021, I graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhD in Neuroscience in which I studied cognitive control using intracranial brain recordings from epilepsy patients.

Awards

Show all (4) Hide

  • Graduate Research Fellowship, Greater Good Science Center, 2019-2021
  • Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2015-2018
  • President's Medal, Hendrix College, 2012
  • Goldwater Scholarship, Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, 2011-2012

Education & Training

Show all (2) Hide

  • PhD Neuroscience University of California, Berkeley 08/2021
  • BA Neuroscience Hendrix College 05/2012

Publications (10)

Top publication keywords:
Schizophrenia, ChildhoodLearningRewardRestTemporal LobeResearch PersonnelPrefrontal CortexPractice Guidelines as TopicFrontal LobeSexismElectroencephalographyThinkingUniversitiesMagnetic Resonance ImagingBrain

Show all (5 more) Hide