Arthur D. (Bud) Craig, PhD
- Atkinson Research Scientist, Barrow Neurological Institute
- Research Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Arizona College of Medicine
- Research Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University
Bio
I received a BS in mathematics from Michigan State University in 1973 and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Cornell University in 1978. I was a postdoctoral associate at Washington University School of Medicine for 3 years and I spent 5 years in Germany doing research and teaching. I accepted my current position as Atkinson Research Scientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in 1986. I have adjunct appointments as Research Professor in Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and in Psychology at Arizona State University. I received an honorable M.D. from Linkoping Univeristy (Sweden) in 2001 and the Kenneth Craik Award in Experimental Psychology from Cambridge University (UK) in 2002.
I am a functional neuroanatomist. I use anatomical, physiological and imaging methods to study how the brain is organized. I began studying ascending sensory pathways for pain in 1980, using tract-tracing and single-unit recordings. A high-resolution anterograde tracing method allowed me to see for the first time the specific lamina I pathway to VMpo in 1989. I began to realize that pain is an aspect of homeostasis and that the lamina I pathway through VMpo to posterior insula represents the homeostatic condition of the body in the mid 1990's, when I published physiological and imaging studies explaining the thermal grill illusion of pain. An imaging study of innocuous cooling, published in 2000, provided the first evidence that this homeostatic sensory pathway constitutes the neuroanatomical basis for subjective feelings from the body. By recognizing and integrating correlations with the work of many others, for example on the forebrain asymmetry of emotion and the role of von Economo neurons in emotional awareness, I have made subsequent contributions to current ideas about the neurobiolobical interface between Emotion and Consciousness.