12 Facts About Daphna Joel

Daphna Joel is an Israeli neuroscientist and advocate for "neurofeminism".

Daphna Joel is best known for her research which claims that there is no such thing as a "male brain" or a "female brain".

Daphna Joel is a member of The NeuroGenderings Network, an international group of researchers in gender studies and neuroscience.

Daphna Joel has given lectures on her work in both scientific and lay conventions around the world.

Since 2003, Daphna Joel has served as the head of the psychobiology department at Tel Aviv University, and in 2013 was appointed chair of the PhD committee of the School of Psychological Sciences.

Daphna Joel began her academic career during her compulsory military service, in the Talpiot program, which she left after a year and a half.

Daphna Joel completed a bachelor's degree in medical science, followed by a doctorate in psychobiology, which focused on how connections in the brain are organized.

Daphna Joel then joined the faculty of neuroscience, after receiving an Alon fellowship for young Israeli scientists.

One of the main questions in Daphna Joel's research is whether there is a "male brain" and a "female brain"; whether human brains can be divided in a binary way, as is generally done with human genitals.

One of the most important studies on which Daphna Joel's theory is based was done by pharmacologist Margaret McCarthy from the University of Maryland.

Daphna Joel was the first to talk about correlation in the context of the brain: a particular area of the brain, such as a large amygdala, does not predict anything about a different part of the brain, say, a small hippocampus.

Daphna Joel is a member of The NeuroGenderings Network and has advocated in the media for a less gender essentialist approach to neuroscience.