Academic history: PhD (1980), University of Toronto; Postdoctoral training New York University Medical School; 1983-2003, Assist, Assoc and Professor, Dept Physiology and Biophysics, Univ. Calgary; 2003-present Professor, Department of Psychiatry UBC; 2003-2024 Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience; 2014-2019, Co-Director of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH) at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. MacVicar’s research has focused on the interactions between nerve cells and the surrounding support cells of the brain called glia.  In 1984 he was the first to show that astrocytes, previously thought to be passive, can display neuronal-like active ion currents and responses to transmitters. Since then his work has shown that that glia including astrocytes and microglia are not just support cells but are active participants in brain activity, both responding to and altering activity of nerve cells.