Q&A with Brain Experts and Leaders

Q&A with Dr. Mark George, Medical University of South Carolina

Dr. Mark George is Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology and Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a clinical neurologist and psychiatrist. George began his career doing brain imaging, identifying brain functions in patients with depression and other emotion problems. His work led to the development of brain stimulation methods and exploring their potential use to modify brain circuits to create effective treatments.

Q&A with Professor Krishna V. Shenoy, Stanford University

Krishna V. Shenoy, PhD, is a Professor of Engineering with the Departments of Electrical Engineering and by courtesy, Bioengineering and Neurobiology at Stanford University. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Prof. Shenoy holds a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Irvine, a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and was a postdoctoral fellow in Neurobiology at Caltech. Prof. Shenoy directs the Stanford Neural Prosthetic Systems Lab (basic neuroscience and engineering) and co-directs the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory (clinical trials), which aim to help restore lost motor function to people with paralysis.

Q&A with Dr. Christoph Guger, Founder and CEO, g.tec medical engineering, GmbH

Christoph Guger is co-founder of g.tec medical engineering in Austria, which has been developing high-performance brain-computer interfaces and neurotechnologies for invasive and non-invasive recordings since 1999. Dr. Guger oversees the global distribution and utilization of g.tec’s products in clinical environments for research purposes such as the analysis of the brain, heart or muscle activity, brain assessments of severe brain injuries and disorders of consciousness, motor rehabilitation after stroke, neuromarketing, deep brain stimulation, brain mapping, neuro prosthesis control, communication, painting and closed-loop invasive and non-invasive BCI experiments.

Q&A with Dr. Henry T. Greely, Professor, Stanford University, Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences

Hank Greeley, a Law Professor at Stanford, has worked the last 25 years on ethical, legal and social implications of advances in the biosciences, genetics, neuroscience, stem cell research, assisted reproduction, and more. During the past 16 or 17 years, a primary focus for Greeley has been issues related to the study of the human brain. Professor Greeley is currently the President of the International Neuroethics Society and has been working on Neuroethics since 2002.

Q&A with David Blodgett, Chief Scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Research Lab

David Blodgett is Chief Scientist for the Research and Exploratory Development Department at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. In this interview, David gives us a closer look at what he does as Chief Scientist, how he came to work in remote sensing and advanced imaging, why collaboration and having a diverse team is essential, and what he would say to those interested in pursuing a similar field.

Q&A with Dr. Timothy Constandinou, Next Generation Neural Interfaces and the Ecosystem

Dr. Timothy Constandinou is a Reader in Neural Microsystems at Imperial College London and also Deputy Director of the Centre for Bio-inspired Technology. He leads the Next Generation Neural Interfaces (NGNI) Lab at Imperial, where his group creates innovative electronic and microsystem technologies to empower next generation tools for neuroscience and medical devices for neural applications.

Q&A with Dr. Joseph J. Fins, Neuroethics Perspectives from a Doctor

Joseph J. Fins, MD, MACP, FRCP is the E. William Davis, Jr. MD Professor of Medical Ethics, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College, Co-Director of the Consortium for the Advanced Study of Brain Injury (CASBI), Weill Cornell Medicine and Rockefeller University, and The Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Medicine, Bioethics and the Law, Yale Law School. Dr. Fins’ published works include “Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and the Struggle for Consciousness,” Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Q&A with Dr. James Giordano, Chair, IEEE Brain Neuroethics Subcommittee

Dr. James Giordano chairs the IEEE Brain Neuroethics Subcommittee. Fostering interaction across and beyond IEEE, IEEE Brain spurs cross-disciplinary collaboration and coordination to advance research, standardization and development of technologies in neuroscience to help improve the human condition. Dr. Giordano is a professor of neurology and biochemistry at Georgetown University, and is chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at the university’s Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics. He is also senior researcher and task leader for the European Union Human Brain Project’s Philosophy and Ethics Sub-Project.

Q&A with Gerwin Schalk, PhD – Are the Opportunities ECoG Holds for Neuroscience Worth the Cost?

Gerwin Schalk, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the National Center of Adaptive Neurotechnologies was an early adopter of electrocorticography (ECoG) for the study of brain function and neurological disorder therapies. He will be a keynote speaker at NeuroCAS, a collaborative workshop to explore the challenges of neurotechnology held 21-22 October in Cleveland, Ohio, directly following BioCAS 2018. IEEE Brain recently spoke with him about the opportunities ECoG presents for both research and clinical applications.

Q&A with Dr. Jacob Robinson, Co-chair, IEEE Brain

Jacob T. Robinson is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Bio Engineering at Rice University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also a co-chair of IEEE Brain, an initiative working to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration and coordination to advance research, standardization and development of technologies for neuroscience, to help improve the human condition.

Q&A with Dr. Jose Carmena, Co-chair, IEEE Brain

Dr. Jose Carmena is a co-chair of IEEE Brain, which facilitates cross-disciplinary collaboration and coordination to advance research, standardization and development of technologies in neuroscience to help improve the human condition. He is Chancellor’s Professor of Electrical Engineering and Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses (CNEP) in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

Q&A with Dr. Paul Sajda, Co-chair, IEEE Brain

Dr. Paul Sajda, a professor of biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and radiology at Columbia University and member of Columbia’s Data Science Institute, is a co-chair of IEEE Brain. He began as an IEEE student member, is an IEEE Fellow and has served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation.