Neurohumanities Seminar Series

2025

• May 2025:

• April 2025: Neuropsychiatry of Magic, presented by Dr. Kathy Niu, director of the Combined Neuropsychiatry Residency Program and an assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas

• March 2025: Alive Inside, The Story of Music and Memory, a documentary film, presented by Michael Rossato-Bennett, focuses on dementia patients in nursing homes who have deteriorated to the point of becoming withdrawn and the effect that music can have on their lives. It also introduces us to the heroic social worker Dan Cohen, who is the proponent of the music intervention, and shows us an example of effective advocacy and the challenges dealing with our health care system. 

• February 2025: When I Grow Up, presented by Dr. Joel Popkin, professor of medicine
• January 2025: Perception and Communication, presented by Rebecca Kowaloff, DO, board-certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative care, and an assistant professor of medicine, is a core faculty member for the UMASS palliative medicine fellowship program and inpatient lead for palliative care education    
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  2024

  • December 2024: Satiago Ramon Y Cajal and the Birth of Neuroscience, presented by Steven Hatch, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine, associate site director of infectious diseases, AMPATH Kenya, at Indiana University School of Medicine.
  • November 2024: Storytelling Our Way to Health Equity, presented by Lucia Knoles, PhD, professor of English at Assumption College.
  • October 2024: Molecular Mimicry and the Mind: Limbic Encephalitis, Long COVID, and the Lessons of a Long-Lost Malady, a John F. Sullivan MD Memorial Lecture, presented by Sheldon Benjamin, MD, professor emeritus of neurology and psychiatry.
  • September 2024: Positive Neuropsychiatry, presented by Elizabeth Degrush, DO, assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry, co-director of the Neuro-Psychiatry Residency Program, and associate director of the Psychiatry residency program.
  • August 2024: Spirituality in clinical practice, presented by Dr. Joseph Keating, Reverend Gladys Gbesorgbor, and Reverend Fr. John Nwagbaraocha.
  • July 2024: A brief history of neurological practice. What it means to be a neurologist, presented by Raphael Carandang, MD
  • June 2024: The Life and Legacy of David Alexander Drachman, MD
  • May 2024: Neurological prognostication
  • April 2024: Neuropsychiatry of magic, presented by Kathy Niu, MD, psychiatry clerkship director and co-director of the brain, behavior, and movement course at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and Daniel Roy, magician
  • March 2024: Narrative Medicine, presented by Vandana Nagpal, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, associate professor of medicine and associate chief of palliative care, and Rebecca Kowaloff, DO, board-certified in internal medicine, hospice, and palliative care
  • February 2024: The symphony of the brain, presented by Dr. Joel Popkin, professor of medicine
  • January 2024: Uncertainty in medicine, presented by Steven Hatch, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine
     

  2023

  • December 2023: What about my nervous system? Recognizing activation and supporting your nervous system in clinical practice, presented by, Christine Runya, PhD, ABPP, professor of family medicine
  • November 2023: What we owe people with dementia - and ourselves, presented by Lucia Knoles, professor of English at Assumption College and Shannon Sweeney, dementia program director at Eisenberg Assisted Living.
  • October 2023: Fiction, poetry, and neurology, presented by AM Barrett, MD, professor of neurology, chair of neurology
  • September 2023: Honoring the well-being, dignity, and experiences of all the cogs in the medical machine - both patients and clinicians, presented by Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD, FAAP, assistant professor of pediatrics at UMass Chan Medical School
  • August 2023: Neuroscience of Music, Emotion and Creativity: Implications for Music-based Interventions, presented by: Psyche Loui, PhD, associate professor, director of the MIND lab at Northeastern University.
  • July 2023: A brief history of Neurological Practice; What it means to be a Neurologist, presented by: Raphael Carandang, MD, associate professor of neurology, anesthesiology, and surgery
  • May 2023: Neuropsychiatry of Magic, presented by: Kathy L. Niu, MD, Psychiatry Clerkship Director and Co-Director of the Brain, Behavior, and Movement Course for medical students at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; Barbara Schildkrout, MD, assistant professor, psychiatry, neuropsychiatrist affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • April 2023: Ebola epidemic in Liberia, presented by: Steven Hatch, MD, MSc
  • March 2023: Compassionomics, presented by Elizabeth Degrush, DO
  • February 2023: The Symphony of the Brain, presented by Joel Popkin, MD