António Rosa Damásio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, where he heads USC's Brain and Creativity Institute. His current work involves the social emotions, decision neuroscience and creativity.
Prior to taking up his posts at USC, in 2005, Damásio was M.W. Van Allen Professor and Head of Neurology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Besides being a well-known researcher in several areas of neurology, he is a best-selling author of books which describe his scientific thinking. Damásio's books deal with the relationship between emotions and feelings, and what their bases are in the brain. His 1994 book, “Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain,” was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and is translated in over 30 languages. His second book, “The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness,” was named as one of the ten best books of 2001 by New York Times Book Review, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and has thirty foreign editions. Damásio's most recent book, “Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain,” was published in 2003.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Damásio has received many awards including the Prince of Asturias Award in Science and Technology, Kappers Neuroscience Medal, the Beaumont Medal from the American Medical Association and the Reenpaa Prize in Neuroscience. He is also in the editorial board of many important journals in the field.