Lucina Uddin

Lucina Q. Uddin is an American cognitive neuroscientist who is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research investigates the relationship between brain connectivity and cognition in typical and atypical development using network neuroscience approaches.

Early life and education
Uddin was born in Bangladesh. Her parents immigrated with her to the United States when she was less than one year old, and Uddin spent her childhood in Southern California. She was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in neuroscience and minored in philosophy. She stayed at UCLA for graduate school, where she explored neural correlates of self-recognition working with Eran Zaidel and Marco Iacoboni. During her graduate studies she worked alongside Susan Y. Bookheimer and Mirella Dapretto on neuroimaging studies to better understand autism spectrum disorder. She moved to New York as a postdoctoral scholar, where she worked with Francisco Xavier Castellanos in the Child Study Center. In 2008 she continued her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, where she worked in the research group of Vinod Menon.

Research and career
Uddin was Associate Professor in the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Division which she created in the Department of Psychology at the University of Miami. She directs the Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory, which makes use of neuroimaging to better understand the relationship between neural connectivity and cognition. At the University of Miami, Uddin established a graduate program in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. In 2018, she was appointed a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. Her current research examines brain network dynamics and cognitive flexibility in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Uddin returned to University of California, Los Angeles in 2021, where she was appointed Professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Analysis Core at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior. Her lab uses resting state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging data to examine large-scale brain networks, and how these networks support executive function.

Awards and honors

 * 2013 International Society for Autism Research Slifka Award
 * 2015 Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator Grant
 * 2015 NIMH Biobehavioral Research Award for Innovative New Scientists
 * 2017 Organization for Human Brain Mapping Young Investigator Award
 * 2017 USERN Prize in Medical sciences
 * 2018 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Azrieli Global Scholar - Brain, Mind & Consciousness Program
 * 2021 Organization for Human Brain Mapping Diversity & Inclusivity Champion Award
 * 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry A.E. Bennett Award for Basic Research
 * 2023 Flux: The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Linda Spear Mid-career Award