Ben Palanca, MD, PhD

Dr. Palanca is interested in characterizing the mechanisms whereby anesthetic agents alter intracortical and subcortical neural networks and impair cognitive processes to generate unconsciousness. The question of how anesthetic agents induce reversible states of unconsciousness is of central importance in the science of anesthesiology. The answers to this question have obvious importance for understanding the neural circuitry underlying cognitive function and developing safer and better approaches to administering and monitoring general anesthesia.