Keynote Lecture: Nicole Rust
On the Grand Plan for brain research
Nicole C. Rust, University of Pennsylvania
Professor and brain researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
Progress in brain research has been accelerating rapidly for decades, following breakthroughs in biotechnology, computing, and artificial intelligence. But the translation of discoveries about the brain into treatments and cures for brain and mental illness remains sporadic. What remains unknown? And how will we figure it out?
The goal of this event is to inspire discussion of our community's Grand Plan — a description, in broad strokes, of how we intend to arrive at an impactful understanding of the brain and mind of the type required to treat brain and mental illness. In the first part of the event, Nicole Rust will summarize the past, present and near-future of brain research, focusing on the ever-shifting frameworks that have driven brain and mind research forward and their relationship to new treatments. She will argue that those frameworks are currently undergoing a transition toward embracing more complexity, and this is a shift we can be optimistic will be impactful. In the second part of the event, Ivan Oransky will lead a community townhall where conference attendees will be invited to offer their own views on the challenges we face and ways to overcome them.
Ivan Oransky is editor-in-chief of The Transmitter, having previously served in editorial leadership roles at outlets including Medscape, Reuters Health and Scientific American. He is a distinguished writer-in-residence at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, where he teaches medical journalism, and co-founder of Retraction Watch, which reports on scientific retractions and related issues.