Program Committee

The Program Committee is responsible for the annual meeting, including identifying suitable topics and speakers, reviewing suggestions, and reviewing abstract and poster submissions from the Society's membership. Members of the committee are responsible for finding a suitable venue, managing event promotion, and media outreach.

The responsibilities of the committee are to:

  • Identify session and speaker topic areas for the core program of the Annual Meeting and the public session.
  • Solicit speakers.
  • Review abstract and poster submissions from the Society’s membership.
  • Fundraise for the Annual Meeting.
  • Work with the Executive Director to identify a suitable venue, manage event planning, advertise and promote the event, and reach out to the media and other communicators.

Members

Co-chairs

  • Stefanie Blain-Moraes, McGill University (Canada)
  • Laura Specker Sullivan, Fordham University (United States)
  • Anna Wexler, University of Pennsylvania (United States)

Members

  • Karen Alexander, International Arts and Mind Lab (United States)
  • Katherine Bassil, Maastricht University (Netherlands)
  • Ariel Cascio, Central Michigan University College of Medicine (United States)
  • Parker Crutchfield, Western Michigan University (United States)
  • Dela Farzanfar, University of Toronto, Department of Psychology (Canada)
  • Debra JH Mathews, Johns Hopkins University (United States)
  • Michelle T. Pham, Michigan State University (United States / Canada)
  • Sarah Songhorian, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan (Italy)
  • Michael P.H. Stanley, MD, Brigham & Women's Hospital (United States)
  • Katharina Trettenbach, University of Tübingen / University of Potsdam (Germany)
  • Fernando Vidal, ICREA-Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (Spain)
  • Michael Young, Massachusetts General Hospital (United States)
  • Christine Zappella, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (United States)

Member Bios

Image of Karen Alexander
Karen Alexander

International Arts + Mind Lab

Karen Alexander, MPA is Director of Outreach and Education at the International Arts + Mind Lab, a multidisciplinary research-to-practice initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University that is accelerating the field of neuroaesthetics. She has worked in program management, research, and communications across a wide range of education issues at local, state and federal levels.

Image of Ariel Cascio
Ariel Cascio

Central Michigan University College of Medicine

Ariel Cascio is an Assistant Professor at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine. Ariel earned a PhD in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University and conducted postdoctoral research in pragmatic health ethics at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal. Their research focuses on social issues around autism including cross-cultural autism studies, social movements, and lived experience.

Image of Delaram Farzanfar
Delaram Farzanfar

University of Toronto

Dela is currently a psychology doctoral student at the University of Toronto. Her PhD work investigates aesthetic responses to visual scenes using interdisciplinary methods in vision science and empirical aesthetics. She was awarded a doctoral Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. She was a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Germany in 2022. Dela obtained bachelor’s degrees in architecture and neuroscience and gained her MA in clinical psychology in Toronto. Dela is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Ontario, Canada.

Image of Michelle T. Pham
Michelle T. Pham

Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Michigan State University

Michelle is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. Her research broadly aims to promote bidirectional engagement between neurotechnology stakeholders, including current and potential end users, researchers, clinicians, and the public. Some topics that her work has covered include: post-trial care for patient-participants in experimental brain implant studies, the ethics of pediatric deep brain stimulation, and engagement with patient-participants who contribute to neuroscience and neurotechnology research.

Image of Sarah Songhorian
Sarah Songhorian

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan

Sarah Songhorian, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Moral Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy of Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and is Deputy Head of Study Programme, MA Philosophy, Politics and Public Affairs at the University of Milan and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. She is also the treasurer of the Italian Society for Neuroethics (SINe). 

Image of Katharina Trettenbach
Katharina Trettenbach

University of Tübingen / University of Potsdam

Katharina has a background between biochemistry, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and medicine. She is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for the Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen, and works at the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics at the University of Potsdam. Her research interests include neuroethics and the philosophy of medicine, especially psychiatry.

Image of Fernando Vidal
Fernando Vidal

ICREA-Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies

A former Guggenheim Fellow, Fernando Vidal received the Eric T. Carlson Award (Weill Cornell Medicine) "in recognition of extraordinary scholarship in the history of the human sciences." He currently works in medical anthropology, with a focus on the concept and experience of personhood in the disorders of consciousness. His most recent book is Performing Brains on Screen (2022).

Image of Michael Young
Michael Young

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Young is a neurologist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is the Associate Director of the MGH NeuroRecovery Clinic. After earning his MD from Harvard Medical School and MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, Dr. Young completed Neurology residency and a Neurorecovery fellowship at Mass General Brigham and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, specializing in longitudinal care of patients recovering from severe brain injuries and disorders of consciousness. His research is focused on improving care systems through neurotechnology, neuroethics and neuroscience. Dr. Young is devoted to fostering responsible development and deployment of neurotechnologies for people with neurologic disease across the care continuum.