Zoltán Molnár earned his M.D. at the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University in Szeged, Hungary in 1988, and his Ph.D. at the University of Oxford in 1994. After completing his degrees, he investigated thalamocortical development at the Institut de Biologie Cellulaire et de Morphologie, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, and mastered optical recording techniques to study early functional thalamocortical interactions at Kyoto Prefectural School of Medicine, Japan. Currently, Prof. Molnár is a Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Oxford.
Prof. Molnár is known for his notable contributions to the understanding of the regulation of cortical neuron birth, migration, differentiation, axon generation, and circuit assembly. His research focuses on the early development and evolution of the mammalian cerebral cortex, particularly the roles of transient subplate neurons in cortical specialization. The professor is at the forefront of translating this knowledge into insights regarding the pathomechanisms of cognitive developmental conditions, such as autism and schizophrenia.
Zoltán Molnár has received countless awards throughout his career, including the Einstein Visiting Fellowship at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (2020-2024) and elections to Academia Europaea and the European Neonatal Brain Club. He was also honored as an Elected Fellow of the Anatomical Society in 2018 and received the Medical Sciences Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Oxford in 2010. These accolades reflect Prof. Molnár’s significant contributions to neuroscience and medical education.