Headshot of Russell Poldrack.

Russell Poldrack

Cognitive neuroscientist
Stanford University

Russell Poldrack is Albert Ray Lang Professor of Psychology at Stanford University in California and director of the Stanford Center for Open and Reproducible Science. His research uses a combination of neuroimaging, behavioral research and computational modeling to understand the brain systems underlying decision-making and cognitive control.

His lab also develops neuroinformatics tools to help improve the reproducibility and transparency of neuroscience, including the Openneuro and Neurovault data sharing projects and the fMRIPrep preprocessing workflow.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and did postdoctoral work at Stanford. He subsequently held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin before joining the Stanford faculty in 2014. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, “Statistical Thinking: Analyzing Data in an Uncertain World.”

Explore more from The Transmitter

‘Overdue’ debate unfurls over neuroimaging method

After a January paper questioned the validity of an approach called lesion network mapping, its users are pressure testing their results.

By Angie Voyles Askham
17 April 2026 | 8 min read

Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish

Estropipate, paclitaxel and levocarnitine altered behaviors tied to SCN2A and DYRK1A variants specifically, a new open-source platform revealed.

By Charles Q. Choi
16 April 2026 | 4 min read

What neuroscientists want from a new NINDS director

The search is underway for the next director of the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who will face a range of challenges, neuroscientists say, but will also have an “immense opportunity to do good things.”

By Helena Kudiabor
15 April 2026 | 4 min read