Dr. Julio J. Ramirez obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology from Clark University in 1983. He did his postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1985 to 1986. He taught at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University from 1981 to 1985. Presently he is the R. Stuart Dickson Professor of Psychology at Davidson College, where he has been since 1986.

Dr. Ramirez's research interests include the recovery of function after central nervous system injury, with an emphasis on determining the functional significance of hippocampal neuroplasticity. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology.

Dr. Ramirez teaches undergraduate courses in neuroscience and general psychology. He has involved well over a hundred undergraduate students in his research program since 1981. Numerous students have coauthored presentations and papers with him in national and international conferences and journals.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Washington, D. C., in 1989 recognized his contributions to undergraduate science education when he was named the North Carolina Professor of the Year and a National Gold Medal Professor of the Year. In 2004, the National Science Foundation gave him the Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars. In 2011, Dr. Ramirez was given the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring by President Barack Obama, the Award for Education in Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience, and the Distinguished Mentor Award from the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience. Davidson College presented him with the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award in 2012. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, and the Council on Undergraduate Research. He was the Founding President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, a national organization dedicated to promoting undergraduate education in the neurosciences. He is an Editor for the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience and he was the Founding Senior Editor of The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education.