Keynote Lecture: Fumiko Hoeft

Fumiko Hoeft

Friday, September 12, 2025, 9:00 – 10:00 am, Elstad Auditorium

Speaker: Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD, University of Connecticut

About Fumiko Hoeft

Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD is the Campus Dean and Chief Administrative Officer of the University of Connecticut Waterbury Campus and a Professor in Psychological Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering, Educational Psychology, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, and Pediatrics at UConn,. She co-founded the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, which is now a collaborative partnership with Yale Child Study Center.

A leading researcher in the neuroscience of learning, she has studied reading acquisition, dyslexia, resilience, and emotional well-being for over 22 years. Initially trained as a physician in psychiatry, emergency medicine, and internal medicine, she later pursued research at Harvard, UCLA, Caltech, and Stanford, holding faculty positions at Stanford and UCSF before joining UConn in 2018.

Dr. Hoeft currently has over $15 million in research funding as Principal Investigator, with support from NIH, NSF, USDA, and the Oak Foundation.

Her work has earned numerous honors, including awards from the International Dyslexia Association (IDA; Geschwind: 2014, Orton: 2022), Learning & the Brain Foundation (2015), International Mind, Brain & Education Society (IMBES; 2018), Society for Neuroscience (SfN; 2018), and the Connecticut Technology Council (2024), and is a nominee of the MacArthur “Genius”Award (2025). Many of these recognize her contributions to research, public engagement, and innovation in higher education.

Dr. Hoeft has published almost 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters and has delivered more than 300 keynotes, talks, and workshops at schools, international conferences, TEDx, and the White House. Her research has been widely featured in The New York Times, NPR, CNN, The New Yorker, and Scientific American.