Julius Fridriksson

Julius Fridriksson is an Icelandic-American academic and scientist who is the Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina (USC). He is also a SmartState Endowed Chair and Health Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Arnold School of Public Health at USC, and Director of the Aphasia Laboratory there.

Fridriksson's expertise and research center on the neurobiology of human communication, particularly focusing on the impacts of damage to the brain areas responsible for communication. He has been a faculty member and university leader at USC since 2001, garnering more than $50 million in research funding throughout that time, primarily from the National Institutes of Health.

Early life and education Julius Fridriksson was born in the coastal town of Keflavík, in southwest Iceland. His brother, Johann Fridrik Fridriksson is a member of the Icelandic parliament, Althing.

Julius was the first member of his family to graduate from college. In 1995, he earned a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing sciences from the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he went on to earn a master's degree in speech-language pathology in 1997. In 2001, Fridriksson completed his terminal degree, a Ph.D. in speech and hearing sciences from the University of Arizona (UA).

Fridriksson has also been the SmartState Endowed Chair of Memory and Brain Function since 2016.

Fridriksson implemented several new research programs in his first two years in the Office of the Vice President for Research. The Propel Research Mentorship Program came first, offering professional development and support for faculty early in their research careers as they develop a complete grant proposal for submission to either the NIH or NSF. Over the course of one academic year, Propel provides a series of nine grant-writing workshops and pairs early-career faculty with more experienced senior researchers who can provide direct support. The first cohort of Propel mentees completed the program in spring 2022. By October 2023, Propel mentees had submitted about 175 grant applications and brought in more than $18 million in awards.

In 2023, Fridriksson pursued development of the USC Brain Health Network and Brain Health Center, securing state and federal funding to launch a network of satellite brain health clinics throughout South Carolina and build a cutting-edge hub for brain care and research in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Brain Health Network supports South Carolina patients experiencing cognitive symptoms of dementia by providing specialized screening and diagnostic services, along with neurologist-directed care plans a network of satellite clinics in rural and underserved areas around the state. This network meets a growing need in South Carolina for specialty care to support patients with Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias for which age is the greatest risk factor. The Brain Health Center in Columbia, slated to open in winter 2025-2026 will be equipped with a 7-tesla MRI scanner and a 3-tesla MRI scanner, spaces for infusion drug treatments and other facilities to treat and research dementias and other brain-based disorders.

In 2023, Fridriksson worked with partners to form a coalition to pursue designation and funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Association's Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program, created by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The South Carolina Tech Hub project consortium came together in 2023 under the title South Carolina Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy (SC Nexus). The statewide SC Nexus consortium includes more than 35 public and private member organizations led by the South Carolina State Department of Commerce. The University of South Carolina is a core member of SC Nexus. In October 2023, SC Nexus received the EDA's Tech Hub designation,

Awards and honors UA Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2011 Louis M. DiCarlo National Award for Clinical Advancement, American Speech and Hearing Foundation, 2011 UCF Alumni Professional Achievement Award, 2013 USC Breakthrough Leadership in Research Award, 2017 SEC Faculty Achievement Award, 2018