Symposium 2019 Guest Speakers

David Glahn, Boston Children's Hospital 

In November of 2018, I joined the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital where I serve as the Associate Chief for Research in the Department of Psychiatry. I also serve as the inaugural director of the Tommy Fuss Center for Neuropsychiatric Disease Research and the Director of the Neuropsychiatric Genetics Program (NPG). My research focuses on large-scale studies designed to (i) elucidate the biological antecedents of psychotic and affective disorders through the integration of clinical, cognitive, neuroimaging, peripheral blood markers and molecular genetic information, and to (ii) determine the impact of genetic and environmental variation on normative brain structure and function and its development. Given that psychiatric and cognitive/imaging antecedents of psychosis or affective dysregulation appear in childhood and adolescence, typically years before the formal onset of the illness, a major component of my research focuses on genetic and environmental aspects of individual differences across development.

Richard Wade-Martins, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford  

Richard’s research is focused on better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease with a view to developing novel drugs and targets. His work combines the development of improved induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neuronal culture models, studies on human post-mortem brain tissue, and the generation and analysis of novel transgenic and knockout rodent models of disease. Richard is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at Oxford and leads the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, a multi-disciplinary translational research initiative supported by the Monument Trust Discovery Award from Parkinson’s UK. He heads the iPSC Dementia Stem Cell Network for the UK Dementia Platform (DPUK) and led the "Neurodegenerative and Neurodysfunctional Diseases" program in StemBANCC, a large EU IMI Program using stem cells for drug discovery.

Carol Worthman, Professor of Anthropology, Emory University

Carol M. Worthman is Samuel Candler Dobbs Chair in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. With training in anthropology, human development, and neuroscience at Harvard and MIT, she forged an integrated ecobiocultural model of human development that guides global transdisciplinary research investigating the bases of differential mental and physical well-being. Her lab pioneered the use of biomarkers in population research and advances inclusive capacity-building in all locales where it works, including projects in thirteen countries, as well as in rural, urban, and semi-urban U.S. As a founding collaborator in the population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study, she implemented mixed-methods approaches to understanding disparities in developmental and mental health outcomes. The global policy impact of her work extends from breastfeeding and reproductive health to reintegration of ex-child soldiers and promoting the mental health of adolescents.