Dr. Sandra Witelson - Academics

Dr. Witelson took a post-doctoral position in New York for 3 years before going to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1969. Dr. Witelson wanted to know how the brain became lateralized (different areas responsible for different functions) in the first place. Following this line of questioning, she investigated the effect of prenatal sex hormones on brain development in adult humans. When she found possible anatomical reasons for differences between male and female talents and behaviour, she received quite a lot of media attention. Though she never intended to study these gender differences, because of the media attention, she is very well known for her work in them.

Dr. Witelson and her colleagues have also amassed a sizable “Brain Bank”, a library of cognitively normal brains, at McMaster University which has become internationally renowned.