Notable Speakers

Dr. Oswald Steward is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurobiology & Behavior, and Neurosurgery at the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Steward received his B.A. in Psychology (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Colorado in 1970 and his Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine (Psychobiology) in 1974. From 1974-1986, he was an Assistant-Full Professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Physiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In 1986, he was appointed as he Founding Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Harrison Foundation Professor of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, holding that position until 1999. He was recruited to UC Irvine in 1999 to be the founding Director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. 

Dr. Steward’s research focuses on repair of the nervous system after injury and preventing neurodegeneration in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease. He has published over 325 research articles and reviews and is the author of two neurobiology text books, one of which was translated into Japanese. In 2004, Dr. Steward was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the founding members of the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee (ICOC), the governing board for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine established through Proposition 71. He served on the ICOC for 17 years until 2021. He also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research in the UCI School of Medicine from 2012-2017. Dr. Steward served as President of the Society for Neuroscience (2022-2023) and continues on the SfN Council as Past President.

Dr. Steward was the recipient of an NIH Research Career Development Award, the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, and the Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.