Frontiers of BrainHealth

UTD Associate Professor Stacie Warren, PhD, investigates why rates of anxiety and depression are rising amid widely available evidence-based treatments, citing recent large-scale studies showing that “gold standard” therapies are not equally effective for everyone, especially youth. 

Rethinking Mental Health Across the Lifespan: Gaps and the Promise of Mechanistic Precision in Treatment

Jonathan Rosand, MD, is founder of the Global Brain Care Coalition (GBCC), an international learning health care system providing people with tools to take action in caring for their brains — making proactive, evidence-based brain care simple and accessible to communities worldwide. 

Brain Health Starts with Brain Care: A Scalable Solution to the Pandemic of Age-Related Brain Disease

CEO of Posit Science Dr. Henry Mahncke reveals insights into brain training from perspectives of cognitive science and neuroscience, and brain imaging results that show how speed training changes the brain, including new results documenting plastic changes in neuromodulatory systems. 

Faster Is Better: The Neural Basis of Cognitive Enhancement from Speed Training 

Nan Li, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Advanced Imaging Research Center, Neuroscience & Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, UT Southwestern. 

As director of the Li neuroimaging Lab (LNAB), Dr. Nan Li aims to develop novel whole-brain MRI imaging methods to integrate molecular and system neuroscience while solving brain science problems in health and diseases. She hopes that ultimately her work will broaden our capacity of functional brain imaging to better understand the fundamental mechanisms and develop treatments for better brain health. 

Visualizing Molecular Events in the Brain with Hemogenetic MRI

Bart Rypma PhD headshot 2022 in front of the Al G. Hill, Jr. Ellipse.

Bart Rypma, PhD, leads research aimed at exploring the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of human memory and how these are affected by aging and disease, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe the activity of younger and older adults as they perform cognitive tasks. He has published extensively on the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of human memory, including high-profile publications in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex and Neuroimage. 


Studying the Brain Basis of Age- and Disease-Related Cognitive Changes With fMRI

Directing a long-term study on the link between psychosocial factors and increasing cancer risks that could be mediated by cellular immune response, Dr. Massimo Bardi works with oncologists, geneticists, psychologists and neuroscientists to test the hypothesis that a more adaptive neuroendocrine physiological profile could be positively associated with a better cancer prognosis. Their main goal is to identify innovative and cost-effective methods to stimulate biopsychosocial enhancements in cancer patients to improve quality of life and reduce tremendous costs.

The Road to Recovery Among Cancer Patients: The Role of Resiliency and Neuroendocrine Profiles

Ian Robertson, PhD, speaks during BrainHealth Week 2025.

Do you often find yourself thinking about getting older? Do you believe that aging inevitably means losing independence — or do you think it’s possible to maintain a rich, purposeful life as you grow older? Renowned clinical psychologist Ian Robertson, PhD, explores the beliefs and behaviors that shape our confidence, and how, within the limits of illness or circumstance, we can age more actively, happily, and with greater purpose.

Confident Aging

“Sidewalk neuroscience” refers to gaining insights into the function of human behavior through simple observation; as a result, this form of scientific discovery is available to all and, if rigorously applied, can provide insights into human emotions and behavioral intent. In this presentation, political scientist Patrick A. Stewart, PhD, discusses how observing and coding the behavior of public figures by using the Ethological Coding System for Interviews (ECSI) and eye blink rates can provide insights into power relationships.

Using “Sidewalk Neuroscience” to Study Power Relationships

Dr. William "Jamie" Tyler and Dr. Cristin Welle.

Non-invasive stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (taVNS) shows promise toward improving brain health and function, and human performance across a multitude of domains. William "Jamie" Tyler, PhD, and Cristin Welle, PhD, explore implications of new findings for neurorehabilitation in the context of pilot clinical investigations using reinforcement-based taVNS to improve fine motor ability in people with multiple sclerosis and executive function in people suffering from neuroinflammation.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Enhancing Plasticity and Brain Health

Mustafa Husain, MD, specializes in neurology, psychiatry and geriatric medicine, investigating research topics including general psychiatry, aging and geriatric issues, new applications of existing mental health interventions and novel treatments of major depressive disorder including magnetic seizure therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation.

Neuromodulation: The New Era for the Treatment of Depression

Despite advancements in generative AI and large language models, the holy grail of AGI (artificial general intelligence) — AI as good as humans — still seems elusive. Gopal Gupta, PhD, presents a goal-directed answer set programming system that automates human (commonsense) reasoning in order to discuss how AI systems to match human capabilities can be built by combining learning and reasoning, including several practical applications of this approach, e.g., reliable interactive chatbots and autonomous driving.

Toward AGI: Automating "Slow" Thinking in AI 

Aaron Tate, Director of Emerging Technology at Center for BrainHealth.

Charisma™ began as a research toolset built to deliver structured, game-based coaching and role-play to strengthen social cognition. Over a decade of iteration, from VRSCT (Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training) to Virtual Gemini to the current unified Charisma platform, the program has consistently facilitated measurable gains in emotion recognition, perspective-taking, and self-confidence. Aaron Tate discusses the software’s evolution and shares key learnings about what it takes to move from research to a scalable product, while staying true to the science behind it, highlighting how intellectual property and building for scale can preserve research integrity and extend real-world impact.

CANCELLED – Charisma: A Case Study in Measurable BrainHealth Outcomes at Scale

The current approach to brain care is largely reactive, considered only when patients or families raise concerns. This approach is not working, and the more money is spent on it, the greater disability is generated. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, proposes a transformative approach, leveraging technology and learning from car racing to establish a “pit stop model of brain care,” focused on a Brain Health Service Line designed to support individuals across the lifespan.

The Pit Stop Model of Brain Care: A Lifelong Brain Health Service Line

The enormous increase in mental health disorders around the world demands a new view of brain health that satisfies the 4Ps: personalized, preventive, predictive and participatory. Paul Zak, PhD, defines emotional fitness, shares research that has established the 4Ps for emotional health, and discusses findings from the launch of a scalable real-time app that measures emotional fitness neurologically and guides users to improved emotional fitness.

The Neuroscience of Emotional Fitness

The Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS) at UTD focuses on developing non-opioid pain therapeutics. Theodore Price, PhD, will discuss how his lab collaborates to profile the molecular composition of pain circuits in humans, and how they change when people have chronic pain, describing how this data can help validate targets and develop non-opioid pain therapeutics and seven companies working to achieve commercialization of these ideas and products.

Human Molecular Neuroscience Insight into the Next Generation of Pain Therapeutics 

Portrait photograph of a man in a dark suit and light blue button-down shirt smiling at the camera.

Professor, author and podcaster Daniel Krawczyk, PhD, studies reasoning, decision-making, human performance, and the relationships between the brain and behavior during these processes. His cognitive neuroscience research lab focuses on understanding reasoning and decision making using a diversity of methods, including behavioral studies, machine learning, imaging and brain stimulation. He has led multiple federally funded studies evaluating thinking and cognitive performance.

Psychology and Neuroscience of Human Values 

Stephen G. Lomber, PhD, is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of Texas at Arlington where he directs the Cerebral Systems Laboratory, conducting research that uses an integrated approach of psychophysics, electrophysiological recording, neuroanatomical techniques, and functional imaging to examine processing in the auditory cortex. 

Acoustic Experience Alters How You “See” the World

Delivering the right treatment to the right patient at the right time can significantly improve outcomes while minimizing adverse events and side effects. Inspired by Precision Medicine in oncology, Dr. Matt Huentelman and his team apply these principles to the aging brain, aiming to align cognitive healthspan with lifespan and improve the prediction and prevention of age-related cognitive diseases, terming this approach "Precision Aging." This talk introduces internet- and lab-based approaches to advance this effort.

Scale and Diversity to Empower Precision Aging

Hal Urshel III, MD, MMA and Fransceca Filbey, PhD. 

Dr. Francesca Filbey, pictured smiling and sitting at a desk. She is the director of Cognitive Neuroscience Research in Addictive Disorders at the Center for BrainHealth and an associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UTD.

Addiction psychiatrist and author of the New York Times bestseller Healing the Addicted Brain, Harold Urschel, MD, MMA, teams up with Center for BrainHealth's Francesca Filbey, PhD, world-renowned expert in the brain mechanisms of addictive disorders – to discuss both the clinical and the basic science aspects of the myriad, harmful effects of marijuana on the human brain and body. 

The Dangers of Marijuana on Mental Health

An award-winning researcher and statistician, Russell Almond, PhD, delves deep into the human sciences, researching ways to measure properties of a person which cannot be directly observed. In this talk, he uses examples from education, psychology and exercise physiology to illustrate procedures for measuring real-life constructs, including practices that can advance how tomorrow's researchers work to define, measure and improve brain health.


Defining Constructs with Context and Claims

Katherine Damme, PhD, researches the adolescent brain, including pathways of risk for psychopathology and ways to promote healthy neural and cognitive development. She is an assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Vital Longevity at UT Dallas.


Psychosis Risk and Resilience During Adolescence: Insights From Women’s Neurodevelopment

Florence Chiang, PhD, focuses on research to develop and translate computational neuroimaging methods to identify and implement imaging biomarkers of disease progression and treatment response in multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. She is an assistant professor at the O’Donnell Brain Institute at UT Southwestern.

Computational Neuroimaging and Biomarkers of Neurodegenerative Disease

As Director of the Neuroimmunology and Behavior Lab at UT Dallas, Michael Burton, PhD, researches how the immune and nervous systems communicate to influence pain and comorbidities like depression and anxiety. His research interests extend into aging, nutrition, alcohol consumption and immune activation. He is a founding member of the Center for Advanced Pain Studies and a 2024-2025 Mayday Pain & Society Fellow.

Neuroimmunology and Behavior

Brain Performance Institute building at dusk, exterior photo

Dr. Sandi Chapman asks a question during a live Frontiers of BrainHealth talk inside Center for BrainHealth's Brain Performance Institute.

Take a look at our speaker lineup for the spring 2025 season of Frontiers of BrainHealth.

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