This lecture series is designed to improve our community’s awareness about brain health. The Brain Health Matters! Lecture Series features the newest information about lifestyle behaviors that can impact (e.g., nutrition, sleep, physical activity, stress resilience, social connection) brain health. Our goal is to equip our community with the skills and knowledge needed to lead a brain healthy lifestyle by: providing the tools needed to optimize daily brain performance; increasing the adoption of brain health protective factors; and creating supporters and advocates of brain health.

Past Lecture Series Speakers

May 18, 2022: Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting with Lisa Genova, PhD

Lisa Genova, PhD is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, “What You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s,” has been viewed more than five million times. REMEMBER is her first work of nonfiction. Learn more

Postponed – March 16: Nutrition and the Brain with Dr. Uma NaidooDr. UMA NAIDOO headshot

Uma Naidoo, MD is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, professional chef graduating with her culinary schools’ most coveted award, and a trained nutrition specialist. Her niche work is in nutritional psychiatry and she is regarded both nationally and internationally as a medical pioneer in this field.  Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based clinical service in Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Learn More

Postponed – April 28: Brain Health & Emotional Wellbeing: How Emotional Health Impacts your Brain Health with Rick Hanson, PhD

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Rick Hanson, PhD, is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books are available in 28 languages and include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture – with 900,000 copies in English alone. He edits the Wise Brain Bulletin and has numerous audio programs. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he’s been an invited speaker at NASA and Google, and at Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities, and he’s taught in meditation centers worldwide..

Dr. Hanson has been a trustee of Saybrook University, served on the board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and was president of the board of FamilyWorks, a community agency. He began meditating in 1974, trained in several traditions, and leads a weekly meditation gathering in San Rafael, California. His work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, and NPR, and he offers the free Just One Thing newsletter with 150,000 subscribers, plus the online Foundations of Well-Being program in positive neuroplasticity that anyone with financial need can do for free. View Bio

November 12, 2019: Brain Health and Stress: Unwind. Breathe. Let Go.

Dr Heidi Hanna

Heidi Hanna, PhD has been featured at many national and global conferences, including the Fortune Magazine Most Powerful Women in Business Summit and ESPN Women’s Leadership Summit. A NY Times Best Selling author of The SHARP Solution, Heidi is CEO and founder of SYNERGY, an integrative neuroscience partnership that provides brain-based training for individuals and organizations. 

December 16, 2019: Brain Health and Social Engagement: Social Engagement, Social Support, & Your Brain Health

Dr Shelley Carson

Shelley Carson received her PhD in psychology from Harvard University, where she conducts research, teaches, and advises students. She’s served as a senior consultant and subject matter expert for a US Department of Defense project, which provides online mental health assistance to service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. Her research on creativity, psychopathology, and resilience has been widely published in both national and international scientific journals. 

Wednesday, January  22, 2020: Physical Activity and Implications to Brain Health: Exercise is Medicine for your brain

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John J. Ratey, MD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, part-time, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Ratey has been a leading teacher and researcher on brain and personality and treatment of aggression and the development of disabilities as well as the psychological and cognitive benefits of exercise and play. He has written extensively on Attention Deficit Disorder, learning disabilities, brain differences that affect social skills and has published Shadow Syndromes, a book that has helped broaden our understanding of how the brain affects everyday life. Dr. Ratey is the author or co-author of more than 85 scientific publications and eight books including Driven to Distraction and The User’s Guide to the Brain and Spark: The New Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain and Go Wild: Free Your Body and Mind From the Afflictions of Civilization. 

Monday, February 17, 2020: How to Be Better in Bed: Sleep is a fundamental pillar of Brain Health.

Michael Breus, PhDMichael J. Breus, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist and both a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He was one of the youngest people to have passed the Board at age 31 and, with a specialty in Sleep Disorders, is one of only 168 psychologists in the world with his credentials and distinction. Dr. Breus is on the clinical advisory board of The Dr. Oz Show and appears regularly on the show (39 times in 8 seasons). 

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