Professor David Ryugo

Professor David Ryugo grew up in a small college town in northern California that centred around agriculture. He enjoyed sports, woodworking, hiking and camping, and was drawn to mathematics and science because of his interest in problem solving. David values education, loves his work, and considers preservation of the environment mankind’s greatest challenge.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and a PhD in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine. He spent nine years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and 23 years at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine before retiring as professor emeritus and joining the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. His research focuses on understanding brain mechanisms of hearing, and he studies structure-function relationships in neuronal circuits of the auditory system. David is especially interested in how deafness and hearing loss alter brain organisation, and in exploring strategies for hearing restoration.