Stan B. Floresco

Dr. Stan B. Floresco is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an Investigator at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. He holds a PhD from UBC (2000). His research focuses on neural circuits underlying learning, cognition, and executive functioning, using rodent models to study interactions between brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and subcortical targets. Key interests include behavioral flexibility, cost-benefit decision making, and reward-related learning, with implications for schizophrenia, depression, and addiction. His lab employs techniques like optogenetics, chemogenetics, and neurophysiological recordings.

Dr. Floresco has received notable awards, including the Killam Teaching Prize (2020), Daniel H. Efron Research Award (2019), and multiple Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Awards. His work integrates experimental and translational approaches to model neural dysfunction in psychiatric disorders. The lab is located in Koerner Pavilion (UBC) and collaborates on projects involving stress, dopamine regulation, and brain injury effects on cognition.

Students supervised include PhD candidates such as Jennifer St. Onge and Colin Stopper. Research funding supports projects on mesocorticolimbic dopamine systems and neurosteroid impacts. The lab emphasizes both rigorous science and team-building activities, as reflected in their gallery of events.