Speakers

As the author of over 100 articles, three books, multiple book chapters, and the Pearson Assessment Burns Brief Inventory of Communication and Cognition neuroscientist Martha S. Burns, Ph.D., is a leading expert on how children learn. She speaks frequently on the importance of applying the science of learning in early childhood education, understanding the adolescent brain, and the K-12 classroom. Dr. Burns is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association., She served on the medical staff of Evanston-Northwestern Hospital for 35 years. Her area of specialization is language and brain maturation from birth to adulthood.

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.

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet. He is on faculty at the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry, and Research Faculty at Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York. He is the author of two New York Times Best Sellers.

Exploring the most important change in our understanding of the brain since the beginning of modern science, Dr. Doidge takes us in-depth into the science of neuroplasticity and its many applications, including tips for maintaining and expanding everyday brain health to revolutionary treatments that can help individuals living with behavioural health problems. He will introduce the five stages of neuroplastic healing and share practical advice on transferring natural, non-invasive forms of energy around us—light, sound, vibration, movement—to awaken the brain’s own transformative capacities without surgery or medication or their associated side effects or risks.

Using this more nuanced understanding of how our brains work, Dr. Doidge will share stories and before-and-after video clips of case examples demonstrating how neuroplastic therapies address many common conditions and offer hope where prospects for healing were long denied.

Alvaro Fer­nan­dez, named a Young Global Leader, runs SharpBrains, an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm track­ing applied neu­ro­science. A recognized pub­lic speaker, he has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour­nal, CNN, Reuters, and Asso­ci­ated Press, among oth­ers. Alvaro is the Editor-in-chief of seminal market reports on Pervasive Neurotechnology and Digital Brain Health, and co-author of the book The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness.

Dr. Adam Gazzaley is a Professor in Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at UC San Francisco, the founding Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center, and Director of the Gazzaley Lab, a cognitive neuroscience laboratory. The Gazzaley Lab studies neural mechanisms of perception, attention and memory, with an emphasis on the impact of distraction and multitasking on these abilities. A major accomplishment of his research has been to expand our understanding of alterations in the aging brain that lead to cognitive decline. His most recent studies explore neuroplasticity and how we can optimize our cognitive abilities via engagement with custom-designed video games, and how this can be bolstered by closed loop systems using neurofeedback and TES.

Dr. Gazzaley is co-founder and chief science advisor of Akili Interactive Labs, a company developing therapeutic video games, and serves as scientific advisor for more than a dozen technology companies. Dr. Gazzaley has filed multiple patents based on his research, authored over 110 scientific articles and delivered more than 425 invited presentations around the world.

Dr. Gazzaley obtained an MD and a PhD in Neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, completed clinical residency in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and postdoctoral training in cognitive neuroscience at UC Berkeley.

Charlie Hartwell is the Operating Partner of Bridge Builders Collaborative. Mr. Hartwell is a change agent who shepherds ideas, resources and talent to drive sustainable growth. He’s served in various organizations including corporate, small business, start-up, non-profit – and in leadership roles such as President, Chairman, board member, founder, consultant, coach and trustee.

Previous to joining Bridge Builders Collaborative, Charlie was President of Ideas to Go, an innovation-consulting firm helping Fortune 500 companies on the front end of their innovation cycle. His career has included Wall Street and corporate marketing stints at HJ Heinz and Pillsbury. In 1998, he formed YourExpedition, the first for-profit expedition company in US history, launched by the historic Bancroft Arnesen Expedition across Antarctica by polar explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen.

He is a Harvard Business School graduate who has led, founded, run and worked in organizations in 16 different industries.

Dr. Laurence Hirshberg specializes in working with children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder, Asperger's, and nonverbal learning disorder. Dr. Hirshberg believes that Neuroscience has shown that the brain is changeable, especially with repetitive practice, opening new avenues for treatment through brain training that harness the brain's amazing capacity for change.

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.

Susan Huganir Magsamen is an expert in learning across the lifespan. She has created high social impact and growth programs and products for private and public sector clients.  Susan has over 35 years of experience bringing academic research to practice to maximize learning, health and wellness through financially scalable initiatives. Additionally, she has founded and sold two learning companies to publicly traded companies.

Dr. Corey McCann is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pear Therapeutics, an eHealth company developing drug/software combination products for diseases of the brain. Previously, he was an investor with MPM Capital where he evaluated new health care investment opportunities, managed relationships with strategic investment partners, and oversaw strategy and execution at portfolio companies. Prior to joining MPM, he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company where he advised pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology companies on the acquisition, development and commercialization of life science technologies. He also led McKinsey’s central nervous system (CNS) expertise group, advising clients across the health care value chain.

Dr. McCann trained as a physician-scientist via the Medical Scientist Training Program. For his PhD, he studied the molecular biology of synapses at Harvard University and at Washington University in St Louis. He was also a post-doctoral researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he developed imaging techniques for the visualization of the brain. Dr. McCann received his MD from Washington University in St. Louis.

Co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation in 2001, where he currently serves as Executive Director. He is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and graduate of the Friends School of Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park, receiving a BS in Environmental Science and Policy with a Biodiversity specialization. He has over 15 years of experience teaching yoga and mindfulness to diverse populations around the globe, with a focus on underserved communities in Baltimore City. Through his work at the Holistic Life Foundation he has helped develop and pilot yoga and mindfulness programs at public and private schools, drug treatment centers, juvenile detention centers, mental crisis facilities, and retreat centers, nationally and internationally. Ali has authored a series of children's books, and co-authored several yoga and mindfulness based curriculums, as well as developed numerous workshops and trainings. His work with the Holistic Life Foundation has been featured on CBS News, NBC Nightly News as well as in Oprah Magazine, Yoga Journal, and many other publications.

Dr. Naomi Steiner is a developmental behavioral pediatrician, research expert in ADHD and attention difficulties, and Clinical Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine in the Pediatric Development & Behavioral Department. Dr. Steiner has unique experience as a developmental behavioral pediatrician and researcher. As a pediatrician, Dr. Steiner has over 20 years of experience working with families and patients with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, developmental delay, language delay, learning disabilities and academic challenges. Dr. Steiner is a national and international leader in the field of training attention through neurofeedback, computer exercises, yoga, and relaxation breathing/biofeedback. For 10 years she has been researching computer attention training, including neurofeedback and has been the Principal Investigator on several large studies. She graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and did her residency at The Brooklyn Hospital/New York University and Shands Hospital/University of Florida. Then she completed her developmental behavioral fellowship at Boston Medical Center/Boston University. She has run a private practice and was on faculty at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center/Tufts University for ten years before moving back to Boston Medical Center/Boston University.

Bruce E. Wexler, MD, is professor emeritus of psychiatry and senior research scientist at Yale School of Medicine. In 35 years of neuroscience research, he has advanced the understanding of brain plasticity and been an international leader in developing computer-presented brain exercises to treat cognitive deficits in people with psychiatric illnesses. His patent-pending innovations led to the development of the ACTIVATE™ cognition cross-training program for children that integrates computer-presented and physical exercises to improve executive function skills essential for learning. For this work, he received an NIH Director’s Award for “high innovation, high impact” research. Dr. Wexler’s book Brain and Culture: Neurobiology, Ideology, and Social Change has received international attention.

Dr. Wexler graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, studied psychiatry at Anna Freud’s Hampstead Clinic and Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, Queen’s Square, London. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and training in psychiatry at Yale.