Steven Small, M.D., Ph.D.

Steven L. Small, Ph.D., M.D., Professor of Neurology, is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Small is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, where he was the Chair of the Department of Neurology from 2010-2017, and at The University of Chicago, where he founded the first high-field MRI research center in Chicago in 1999.

As a scientist, Dr. Small has been a pioneer in understanding the anatomy and physiology of the human brain and its relation to function by direct investigation of human subjects, particularly related to language comprehension and production, and with an emphasis on distributed brain networks. This work has encompassed the study of normal adults and children, adults with neurological disease (especially stroke), and children with developmental impairments.

Dr. Small's translational neurology research focuses on language recovery after stroke in both adults and children. Neurobiologically plausible models of human brain function are typically based on detailed animal models. For human speech and language, the cortical dorsal-ventral network architecture associated with the extended auditory system of nonhuman primates represents a strong model. A postero-dorsal network connects the auditory cortex to the posterior and dorsal part of inferior frontal cortex (IFC) (Brodmann area [BA] 44) via posterior superior temporal (pST) cortex, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and premotor cortex (PMC), whereas an antero-ventral network traverses anterior superior temporal cortex (aST) to terminate in more anterior and ventral parts of the inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45). Recent findings suggest that language recovery from stroke depends on integration and segregation of these network communities that have been evolutionarily co-opted for language, and that focusing language therapy on these biological networks might have long term advantages. This work has elaborated network-level translational neurology of stroke recovery by way of investigation of imitation-based treatment of aphasia targeting the dorsal language network.

Dr. Small is the founder of both the Society for the Neurobiology of Language and the MIT Press open access journal, Neurobiology of Language.

As Dean of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dr. Small aims to continue its upward trajectory by expanding and broadening research and education in neuroscience, psychology, and speech and hearing sciences, building partnerships with other educational, industrial, and philanthropic institutions in Dallas, particularly the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and advancing the stature of the premier Carnegie Tier 1 research institution in Dallas-Fort Worth, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Web: www.drsmall.org

Twitter: @stevenlsmall

LinkedIn: slsmall

• Language Disorders after Stroke (Aphasia)
• Neurobiology of Language
• Sports-Related Head Impacts

Featured Publications

Language development and brain reorganization in a child born without the left hemisphere.

Asaridou SS, Demir-Lira ÖE, Goldin-Meadow S, Levine SC, Small SL, Cortex 2020 Jun 127 290-312

A core outcome set for aphasia treatment research: The ROMA consensus statement.

Wallace SJ, Worrall L, Rose T, Le Dorze G, Breitenstein C, Hilari K, Babbitt E, Bose A, Brady M, Cherney LR, Copland D, Cruice M, Enderby P, Hersh D, Howe T, Kelly H, Kiran S, Laska AC, Marshall J, Nicholas M, Patterson J, Pearl G, Rochon E, Rose M, Sage K, Small S, Webster J, Int J Stroke 2019 02 14 2 180-185

Head impacts sustained by male collegiate water polo athletes.

Cecchi NJ, Monroe DC, Fote GM, Small SL, Hicks JW, PLoS ONE 2019 14 5 e0216369

Changes in dynamic resting state network connectivity following aphasia therapy.

Duncan ES, Small SL, Brain Imaging Behav 2018 Aug 12 4 1141-1149

Performance Variability as a Predictor of Response to Aphasia Treatment.

Duncan ES, Schmah T, Small SL, Neurorehabil Neural Repair 2016 10 30 9 876-82

Brain repair after stroke--a novel neurological model.

Small SL, Buccino G, Solodkin A, Nat Rev Neurol 2013 Dec 9 12 698-707

Interhemispheric functional connectivity following prenatal or perinatal brain injury predicts receptive language outcome.

Dick AS, Raja Beharelle A, Solodkin A, Small SL, J. Neurosci. 2013 Mar 33 13 5612-25

Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury.

Raja Beharelle A, Dick AS, Josse G, Solodkin A, Huttenlocher PR, Levine SC, Small SL, Brain 2010 Jun 133 Pt 6 1707-16

Task-dependent organization of brain regions active during rest.

Hasson U, Nusbaum HC, Small SL, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2009 Jun 106 26 10841-6

Sports experience changes the neural processing of action language.

Beilock SL, Lyons IM, Mattarella-Micke A, Nusbaum HC, Small SL, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2008 Sep 105 36 13269-73

 Featured Books

Neurobiology of Language

Gregory Hickok and Steven L. Small (Ed.) (2015). Netherlands, Elsevier Science

• Ashbel Smith Professor
  Endowed Chair, University of Texas at Dallas (2023)
• Aage and Margareta Møller Distinguished Professor
  Endowed Chair, University of Texas at Dallas (2019-2023)
• Founding Editor-in-Chief
  Neurobiology of Language (MIT Press) (2019)
• Top Doctors
  Orange County, California (2019)
• Distinguished Career Award
  Society for the Neurobiology of Language (2018)
• Scientific Program Advisory Committee (SPAC)
  American Neurological Association (2017-2020)
• Secretary/Treasurer
  Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN) (2015-2021)
• Theodore von Kármán Fellow
  RWTH Aachen University (Germany) (2014)
• Stanley van den Noort Professor
  Endowed Chair, University of California, Irvine (2010-2019)
• Editor-in-Chief
  Brain and Language (Elsevier) (2005-2019)

• American Academy of Neurology (1990)
• American Neurological Association (1999)
• Society for Neuroscience (1991)
• Society for the Neurobiology of Language (2009)
• University of California, Irvine (2010-2017)
• University of Chicago (1999-2010)