Monday, March 18, 2024
Event Description: Curious about the intersections between neuroscience, public policy, and advocacy? Wondering how to get involved yourself? Join Jen French, Executive Director and Founder of the Neurotech Network, Katie Sale, Executive Director of the American Brain Coalition, and Dr. Mark Rasenick, Distinguished Professor of Physiology & Biophysics and Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago, for a conversation about their innovative leadership in neuroscience, public policy, and advocacy. This event will provide an introduction to brain-related policy work, including the importance of patient advocacy, community engagement, and working with policymakers to support brain research. The event will also include a Q&A session to provide career guidance for students and professionals interested in becoming more involved in this work.
Panelists
Jennifer French, MBA
As a result of a snowboarding accident, Jennifer French lives with tetraplegia due to a spinal cord injury. She is an early user of an experimental implanted neural prosthesis for paralysis and is the Past-President and Founding member of the North American SCI Consortium.
She is the Founder and Executive Director of Neurotech Network, a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and advocacy of neurotechnologies. Jennifer has been featured in several media outlets and is an accomplished writer and speaker addressing organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the World Science Festival, and TEDx Talks. French has helped launch successful divisions is such organizations as Bombardier Capital and Connection, as well as several nonprofit organizations and patient/community engagement programs. French holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Science and an MBA. She serves on several Boards including the IEEE Neuroethics Initiative, Institute of Neuroethics, OpenMinds platform, BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group, and the American Brain Coalition. She is also an organization representative within the FDA CDRH Patient and Caregiver Connection Program and new TAP program, faculty member for the NeuroTech Course, and co-lead on the new Implantable Brain Computer Interface Collaborative Community. She is the current Chair of the CDMRP Spinal Cord Injury Research Program programmatic committee. She is the author of On My Feet Again (Neurotech Press, 2013) and is co-author of Bionic Pioneers (Neurotech Press, 2014).
Jen is also an avid sailor. She is a silver medalist from the 2012 Paralympic Games and is the 2012 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year; the first woman with a disability receive this distinction. She is the Co-Founder of the Warrior Sailing Program, a maritime education program for wounded, ill and injured service members through the USMMA Sailing Foundation. She serves on the board of the Independent Living Center serving Pinellas & Pasco counties. She is also the Accessibility Advisor for Greenfields Outdoor Fitness bringing accessible gyms to local municipalities.
Her latest TED talk is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkspAQW_2sQ
Website: www.NeurotechNetwork.org
Phone: 813-362-0149 (m), Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-french-0535834/
Twitter: @NeurotechNetwk
Katie Sale
Katie Sale is the Executive Director of the American Brain Coalition (ABC), a nonprofit organization seeking to advance the understanding of brain functions to reduce the burden and stigma of brain diseases and conditions in order to improve lives of impacted people by 1) Convening organizations that provide brain research and treatment to create a sustainable platform for advocacy, innovation and solutions. 2) Leading collaboration through member recruitment, engagement and outreach, to develop expertise, strategies, processes and policies. 3) Engaging the public, its representatives, and other stakeholders to enhance awareness, provide public advocacy, defeat stigma, and advance research opportunities.
Ms. Sale has been the American Brain Coalition Executive Director since the ABC was incorporated in 2004. In her position as Executive Director, Ms. Sale provides executive leadership over the administration and daily operations to ensure strong integration among all programs and advocacy activities. She provides broad guidance on operations and policy implementation. Ms. Sale participates with the board in planning and establishing program policies, objectives, and priorities as well as directing the development and implementation of the ABC’s strategic action plans. Ms. Sale services the needs of the ABC’s membership comprised of patients, families, neuroscientists, clinicians, industry, and government agencies.
In her capacity as Executive Director of the ABC, Ms. Sale serves as an Executive Committee member on the Friends of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and a member of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative Alliance. She also serves as an ex officio member of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, an Advocacy Board member of the STARR Coalition, as well as a Community Liaison Board member on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Adolescent Brain & Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.
Dr. Mark Rasenick, PhD
Dr. Rasenick’s work has focused on G protein signaling in the nervous system and the relationship of neurotransmitter activation to rapid modification of the cytoskeleton. He has been particularly interested in how G proteins and the cytoskeleton work in concert to modify synaptic shape and to form a molecular basis for depression and the action of antidepressant drugs. The most recent work from his group suggests the possibility of a simple blood test indicating depression and therapeutic response to antidepressant therapy. This has led to the creation of Pax Neuroscience, which recently received SBIR funding from NIMH. Dr. Rasenick’s research continues to be funded by the NIH, the Veterans Administration, as well as by other government, philanthropic and industry sources. He is principal investigator of an NIMH training grant, “Training in the Neuroscience of Mental Health”, which supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the neurosciences. He is also the co-founder of UIC’s Graduate Program in Neuroscience. He has served on many scientific review panels (NIH, NSF, DOD), and editorial boards and is the author of numerous publications. Dr. Rasenick has received honors both for teaching and research, including the Searle Young Faculty Award from the Chicago Community Trust, the University Scholar Award and Distinguished Faculty Award from the University of Illinois, a Research Scientist Award from the NIMH, and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship from the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences. He is an elected fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Research and the Cuban Academy of Science.
In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Rasenick is active in public policy. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Brain Coalition and the National Association for Biomedical Research. He served as a member of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and the Chapters committee, Government and Public Affairs Committee and International Affairs Committee of the Society for Neuroscience. He also serves or has served on the Public Affairs/Outreach committees of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and chaired that Committee for ACNP. He currently chairs the Advocacy Committees for the American Brain Coalition and for the National Network of Depression Centers. He was a member of the Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Links Committee for the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and was appointed a Global Health Research Ambassador by the Paul Rogers Society—Research!America. While a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow (1999-2000), he was a staff member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions with the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, (D Mass.). During this time, he worked on legislation concerning Cancer screening, Medicare Prescription Drugs, Organ Transplantation Policy and Mental Health Policy. He is also involved in international outreach for neuroscience and has organized programs designed to foster international cooperation in the basic and clinical neurosciences in Vietnam, Cuba and throughout Latin America. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations concerning outreach to Cuban biomedical scientists.
Event Flyer
