Event Series

Upcoming Events: Seminar Series

The McCance Center for Brain Health Seminar Series meets every other week on Mondays from 11:00 am – 12:00 noon and brings upwards of 60 faculty members and their labs together to present on and discuss the development of brain health indicators and interventions, as well as efforts to integrate brain health assessments into primary care. This vibrant community of clinicians and scientists from across Mass General and its partner institutions is embracing radically new approaches to preventing brain disease and promoting brain health across the lifespan. The series often welcomes external speakers who are also conducting transformational work in this field. 

Speaker Schedule

• 7/26/21: Jonathan Rosand, MD, MSc, Co-Director, McCance Center for Brain Health (moderator)
  Steve Arnold, MD, Department of Neurology, Mass General, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Dr. Arnold is an innovator in clinical trial designs, and oversees the McCance Center clinical trials for new interventions.
• 8/9/21: Sonia Vallabh, PhD, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Eric Minikel, PhD, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Drs. Vallabh and Minikel are developing the very first targeted treatment for primary prevention of inherited causes of dementia.
• 8/23/21: Olivia Okereke, MD, MS, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  Pamela Rist, ScD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  Dr. Rist studies interventions to reduce the morbidity burden associated with stroke, migraine, and cognitive decline. Dr. Okereke focuses on finding modifiable health and lifestyle factors that translate to prevention of cognitive decline and depression in late life.
• 9/20/21: Ronald Lazar, PhD, Director of Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, Professor in Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Dr. Lazar is a co-author, with Dr. Rosand and other McCance faculty, of the upcoming REGARDS paper which demonstrates the effectiveness of the McCance Brain Care Score.
• 10/4/21: Randy Gollub, MD, PhD, Director of Imaging Science, McCance Center
  Ksenia Kastanenka, PhD, Mass General Research Institute
  Dr. Gollub utilizes her background to lead imaging efforts supporting biomarker development as well as studying the link between COVID-19 and brain health. Dr. Kastanenka investigates the progression of Alzheimer’s disease focusing on the role that neural circuit disruptions play in the progression of the disease.
• 10/18/21: Daphne Holt, MD, PhD, Athinoula A. Martinos Center, McCance Center Faculty Member
  David Salat, PhD, Athinoula A. Martinos Center
  Dr. Holt has investigated the neurocognitive basis of the core symptoms of psychotic illness, including delusions, negative affect, and social impairment, reporting some of the first evidence for abnormalities. Dr. Salat’s research examines structural and functional changes in the brain with aging and age-associated neurodegenerative disease, to determine how the decline in vascular health with age contributes to the development of Alzheimers disease and other dementias.
• 11/1/21: Luisa Quinti, PhD, Department of Neurology, Mass General
  Josh Roffman, MD, Co-Director, Mass General Neuroscience, Director, Mass General Early Brain Development Initiative, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Dr. Quinti has been actively involved in the development of therapeutics for several neurodegenerative diseases and is passionate about developing and implementing reliable models of Alzheimer’s disease to identify novel drug targets. Dr. Roffman's research merges brain imaging, genomics, and clinical trials to examine folic acid abnormalities in schizophrenia.
• 11/15/21: Dmitry Prokopenko, PhD, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, PhD, Athinoula A. Martinos Center, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Dr. Prokopenko, Dr. Tanzi and colleagues have completed the first systematic whole-genome sequencing study in Alzheimer's disease (AD), detecting 13 rare gene variants not previously associated with AD. Dr. Guzmán-Vélez’s interests in the lab include investigating cognitive tests that are sensitive to the earliest brain changes in AD, how these relate to cognition and pathology burden and how greater aerobic fitness may modify the course of AD.
• 11/29/21: Doo Yeon Kim, PhD, Department of Neurology, Mass General, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Dr. Kim his team developed a three-dimensional human neural cell culture model of AD; his lab also studies how Alzheimer’s beta-secretase, BACE1, regulates synaptic and axonal ion channel trafficking using cellular and mouse models.
• 12/13/21: Christiane Wrann, DVM, PhD, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Se Hoon Choi, PhD, Department of Neurology, Mass General, McCance Center Faculty Member
  Drs. Choi and Wrann focus on the molecular mechanisms of the beneficial effects of exercise on metabolism and the brain as well as the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.

If you would like to attend these seminars, please contact Jordan Karten.

Prior Events

Learn more about the Center's annual symposium and watch seminar recordings here.