Biography:

Dr. Calixto Machado graduated as MD in 1976. He continued his medical training to become Specialist in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, First Degree in 1980, and Second Degree in 1984. In 1990 he became the youngest Dr. in Sciences in his country. Dr. Machado received clinical training in specialized neurology centers in Sweden, Italy, and Austria. As senior professor and researcher Dr. Machado has thought several medical students, neurology residents, fellows, and doctorate students in neurosciences from Cuba and the rest of the world.

In 1992, he was the first Cuban neurologist who was a member of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), nominated as a Corresponding Fellow. He has been awarded 10 times by the Best Annual Scientific Medical Research in Cuba. In 2005 he received the American Academy of Neurology “Lawrence McHenry Award”, for the excellence in neurology, and in 2011, he was awarded as the “Researcher of Year” by the International Academy for Child Brain Development (Philadelphia, USA), and by the International Association of Functional Neurology and Rehabilitation (Orlando, USA). These were the first time that a Hispanic neurologist, and a neuroscientist from a developing country, received those recognitions.

He is Senior Professor and Researcher at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Havana, Cuba. He is actually the President of the Cuban Society of Clinical Neurophysiology and of the National Commission for the Determination of Death. Dr. Machado is a Corresponding Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, Chairman of the Network on Defining Death of the International Association of Bioethics, Member of the International Association of Functional Neurology and Rehabilitation, Member of The World Federation of Neurology, and The International League Against Epilepsy. He is a Senior Academics of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. In the academic field Dr. Machado is recognized as a world expert in neurological disorders such as brain death, coma, disorders of consciousness, and cerebrovascular diseases. His appointments as visiting professor includes: Miami University (Department of Philosophy and Bioethics), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer and Cornell University in New York, the Institute of Neurology at Columbia University, The Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care Service at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the George Washington University, and The Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Jackson's Memorial Center in Miami.

He has been the President of the Organizing Committee of the International Symposia on Brain Death, and the International Symposia on Disorders of Consciousness, since the 90’s (8 symposia). These conferences have welcome hundreds of foreign delegates and they are considered by the world scientific community as the main meetings in this area.

During the last 30 years he has run many research protocols on subjects, such as: brain death, coma, persistent vegetative states and other disorders of consciousness, stroke, autism, etc. He has published more than 180 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, and 4 books. His Book “Brain Death: A Reappraisal” was received with great enthusiasm among neurologist, neurosurgeons, intensivists, and surgeons specialized in transplants. He is considered one of the most productive investigators in the area of brain death and disorders of consciousness.