Michael J. Higley studied behavioral neuroscience at Cornell University. He then completed his M.D./Ph.D. in the Medical Scientist Training Program and the laboratory of Diego Contreras at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his scientific training as a postdoctoral fellow with Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School and joined the faculty in the Department of Neuroscience at Yale University in 2010.

His lab is focused on using electrophysiological and imaging approaches to study the functional organization of cortical circuits and their disruption in models of neurodevelopmental disorders.