Chairman
Montpellier University Medical Center
Hugues DUFFAU (MD, PhD) is Professor and Chairman of the Neurosurgery Department in the Montpellier University Medical Center and Head of the INSERM 1191 Team "Plasticity of the central nervous system, human stem cells and glial tumors" at the Institute of Functional Genomics of Montpellier (University of Montpellier, France). He is an expert in awake cognitive neurosurgery of slow-growing brain tumors, as low-grade gliomas, a routine which he has developed since thirty years. His fundamental approach is centered on the concepts of the brain connectomics and neuroplasticity, breaking with the traditional localizationist view of cerebral processing. For his innovative work in neurosurgery and neurosciences, he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa seven times, and he was the youngest recipient of the prestigious Herbert Olivecrona Award (Nobel Prize of neurosurgery) from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He has written five textbooks and 550 publications in international journals ranging from neurosurgery and neurooncology to fundamental neurosciences, including cognitive sciences and brain plasticity, for a total of 45,000 citations and with an h-index of 113. He gave more than 830 invited lectures, and was invited as a visiting professor in more than 70 institutions. He is member of Editorial boards of many journals (as Brain and Language, Neurosurgery or Neuro-oncology) and ad-hoc reviewer for around 100 journals (over 950 reviews). He is member of many societies, such as the French Academy of Medicine, French Academy of Surgery, Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, World Academy of Neurological Surgery, …
Main publications:
. Duffau H. Lessons from brain mapping in surgery for low-grade glioma: insights into associations between tumour and brain plasticity. Lancet Neurol. 2005;4:476-86
. Duffau H, et al. New insights into the anatomo-functional connectivity of the semantic system: a study using cortico-subcortical electrostimulations. Brain. 2005;128:797-810.
. Thiebaut de Schotten M, Urbanski M, Duffau H, et al. Direct evidence for a parietal-frontal pathway subserving spatial awareness in humans. Science. 2005;309:2226-8
. De Witt Hamer PC, Robles SG, Zwinderman AH, Duffau H, et al. Impact of intraoperative stimulation brain mapping on glioma surgery outcome: a meta-analysis. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30:2559-65
. Duffau H. Stimulation mapping of white matter tracts to study brain functional connectivity. Nature Rev Neurol. 2015;11:255-65
. Herbet G, Maheu M, Costi E, Lafargue G, Duffau H. Mapping neuroplastic potential in brain-damaged patients. Brain. 2016;139:829-44
. Herbet G, Duffau H. Revisiting the functional anatomy of the human brain: Toward a meta-networking theory of cerebral functions. Physiol Rev. 100:1181-1228, 2020
. Herbet G, Duffau H. Contribution of the medial eye field network to the voluntary deployment of visuospatial attention. Nature Commun. 2022;13(1):328
. Lemaitre AL, Herbet G, Ng S, Moritz-Gasser S, Duffau H. Cognitive preservation following awake mapping-based neurosurgery for low-grade gliomas: A longitudinal, within-patient design study. NeuroOncol. 24:781-793, 2022
. Ng S, Rigau V, Moritz-Gasser S, Goze C, Darlix A, Herbet G, Duffau H. Long-term autonomy, professional activities, cognition, and overall survival after awake functional-based surgery in patients with IDH-mutant grade 2 gliomas: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Regional Health 46: 101078, 2024
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
AANS International Brain Mapping Program
Friday, May 1, 2026
6:45 AM - 4:00 PM CT
Connectomics and Neuroplasticity Revealed by Intraoperative Mapping
Friday, May 1, 2026
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM CT
Friday, May 1, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:50 PM CT