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Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
The Names of Things: The 2018 Bernard Sachs Lecture
1Division of Genetics and Metabolism, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Abstract:
In 2018, I was honored to receive the Bernard Sachs Award for a lifetime of work expanding knowledge of diverse neurodevelopmental disorders. Summarizing work over more than 30 years is difficult but is an opportunity to chronicle the dramatic changes in the medical and scientific world that have transformed the field of Child Neurology over this time, as reflected in my own work. Here I have chosen to highlight five broad themes of my research beginning with my interest in descriptive terms that drive wider understanding and my choice for the title of this review. From there I will go on to contrast the state of knowledge as I entered the field with the state of knowledge today for four human brain malformations-lissencephaly, megalencephaly, cerebellar malformations, and polymicrogyria. For all, the changes have been dramatic.
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