Marco Iacoboni M.D., Ph.D.

Marco Iacoboni, MD, Ph.D. is a neurologist and neuroscientist, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Professor In-Residence, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Director of the Marco Iacoboni lab, UCLA Brain Mapping Center, Director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Lab at the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, and Member of the Brain Research Institute. Dr. Iacoboni’s interest in how people put together perception and action led him to his seminal research on mirror neurons. In his book ‘Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and how we connect with others’, Marco explains groundbreaking research on mirror neurons− cells in our brain that help us understand and empathize with others. He also studies human imitation, empathy, and social cognition. Dr. Iacoboni has published 263 academic papers and has been cited over 21 thousand times.

What Marco knows that matters to you: We have neurons in our brain called mirror neurons that fire when we watch someone perform an action. They help us connect with and understand the intentions of others, help facilitate empathy, and are important to sharing our needs and our goals as well as healthy social integration.