Ana Belén Elgoyhen

Ana Belén Elgoyhen (born 13 December 1959) is an Argentine scientist, professor of pharmacology at the University of Buenos Aires and independent researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Spanish: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CONICET).

She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of hearing (sense). Her work could be useful to treat auditory deficiencies and other hearing pathologies. She received her PhD in biochemistry from the same university, under the supervision of Edda Adler de Graschinsky.

After being selected for the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences in 1991, Elgoyhen left Argentina to begin her post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of molecular neurobiology of the Institute Salk, California. In 1994, Elgoyhen identified the receptors in the human ear that take part in the processes of modulation of the sounds and making them comprehensible.

In the 2012, the Argentine vice-president Amado Boudou and the Argentine minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Lino Barañao, awarded her the title of 2012 "Researcher of the Argentine Nation" for her work on the genetics and physiology of the human ears.

Elgoyhen is working as superior researcher at the Institute of Investigations in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology "Dr. Héctor N. Torres", as adjunct professor of pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires since 2001, and as adjunct professor to the department of otorhinolaryngology of the School of Medicine of University Johns Hopkins since 2009. "Efectos de las benzodiazepinas sobre la liberación de 3H-noradrenalina y sobre las respuestas cronotrópicas al estímulo nervioso en aurículas de rata" 1992 Prize CEDIQUIFA in pharmacology 1994 Verum Foundation for Behavior and Environment "Clonado y caracterización funcional del receptor nicotínico involucrado en el control eferente del sistema auditivo y vestibular" 2002 Bernardo Houssay Award in Pharmacology 2005 H.F. Lenfest Award in Auditory Science 2011 TWAS Prize in Biology 2012 Investigadora de la Nación Argentina 2012 2013 Platinum Konex Award in Science and Technology – Basic Biomedical Sciences 2023 Konex Award in Science and Technology – Basic Biomedical Sciences