Agenda

The Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the nation’s leading political voice on mental illness, addiction, and other brain diseases. The son of Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, he decided to leave Congress not long after his father’s death to devote his career to advocacy for brain diseases and to create a new, healthier life and start a family. He has since founded The Kennedy Forum, which unites the community of mental health, and co-founded One Mind for Research, a global leader in open science collaboration in brain research. Kennedy is also the co-author of “A Common Struggle”, which outlines a bold plan for the future of mental health in America.

John H. Cammack is Managing Partner of Cammack Associates, which specializes in early stage investing in enterprises advancing brain fitness and educational attainment. John is currently on the boards of: CureViolence.org, ABAG (Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers), Baltimore Corps (Chair), Venture for America (Baltimore Chair), Betamore Advisory Board (Chair), Citelighter and Calvert Education Services. Past roles include Chairmanships of the United Way of Central Maryland, the Mutual Fund Education Alliance, and board assignments with the Foundation for Financial Planning and CFP Board of Standards.

From 1991 to 2009, John was a senior executive at T. Rowe Price where he served as Division Head and member of firm’s Operating Steering Committee, Institutional Marketing Steering Committee, Compliance Oversight Committee and T. Rowe Price Investment Services Board.

John is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Denison University with a BA in History and received his MBA from Columbia University.

Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Director of the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas, Dee Wyly Distinguished University Chair and author of Make Your Brain Smarter, is committed to maximizing cognitive potential across the entire lifespan. As a cognitive neuroscientist with more than 40 funded research grants and more than 175 publications, Dr. Chapman's scientific study elucidates and applies novel approaches to advance creative and critical thinking, strengthen healthy brain development, and incite innovation throughout life.

Dr. Chapman collaborates with scientists across the country and around the world to solve some of the most important issues concerning the brain and its health. On the frontier of brain research, her scientific study melds interdisciplinary expertise to better understand how to evaluate and achieve optimal brain performance through preserving frontal lobe function, the area of the brain responsible for reasoning, planning, decision-making and judgment. Dr. Chapman coined the term "brainomics" to define the high economic cost of poor brain performance, and she sees the brain as the most significant path to raise the standard of living globally. Dr. Chapman is actively studying and discovering informative pathways to improve brain function and cognitive performance in health, injury and disease; identifying novel non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment approaches, and testing the effect of brain training to exploit brain potential.