William Hutchison CRANIA

Dr. William Hutchison received his MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto before going on to receive his PhD in Neuroscience from Australian National University, Canberra in 1990. He completed post-doctoral studies in Neurophysiology at the University of Würzburg in Germany and at the University of Toronto Department of Physiology. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Departments of Surgery and Physiology in 1996. His research focuses on the neurophysiology of Parkinson’s Disease and movement disorders, as well as the mechanisms of action of deep brain stimulation. He is currently Full Professor at both the Department of Surgery and the Department of Physiology, and Senior Scientist at the Toronto Western Research Institute.

  • Professor, University of Toronto, Departments of Surgery & Physiology
  • Senior Scientist, Toronto Western Research Institute
  • Research interests include mechanisms of deep brain stimulation action, role of neuronal oscillations in Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and essential tremor. The current focus of my work in intraoperative recordings from movement disorders patients is measuring the deficit in short- and long term activity-dependent plasticity in basal ganglia structures and the powerful effects of dopamine in reversing this deficit. Additional work relates to human subcallosal cortex and the possible role of neuronal activity, synaptic plasticity and oscillations in contributing to depression symptoms and outcome from DBS therapy. Lab animal work involves multiarray neurophysiological recording in cortex following acute focal stroke, and newer techniques of voltammetry to measure serotonin and dopamine release from cortical stimulation. Some previous research activities relate to neurophysiology of pain and temperature sensation in humans and animals.