Dr. Silbersweig is the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Co-Director of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for the Neurosciences. He served as Academic Dean at Harvard Medical School Dean for Partners (Mass General Brigham) HealthCare and is the Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. David Silbersweig graduated from Dartmouth College with high honors in philosophy. He studied medicine at Cornell University Medical College. He is a neurologist and psychiatrist, having trained in both psychiatry and neurology at The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. His research training was in the emerging field of functional brain imaging research at The Medical Research Council Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London. Dr. Silbersweig the returned to Cornell to found and direct the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory with Dr. Emily Stern. Dr. Silbersweig was also the founding Director of the Division of Neuropsychiatry, as well as the founding Director of the Neurology-Psychiatry Combined Residency Program. At Cornell, Dr. Silbersweig was the Tobin-Cooper Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Neurology and Neurosciences, Professor in the Program in Physiology, Biophysics and Structural Biology, and was Vice Chairman, for Research, in the Department of Psychiatry. He was then recruited to Harvard.

Dr. Silbersweig is one of the pioneers of functional neuroimaging research in psychiatry.  He and his colleagues focus upon the development and application of new neuroimaging techniques to localize and characterize brain circuitry dysfunction underlying major psychiatric disorders. They have developed novel methods, paradigms and analytics for both PET and MRI imaging that are widely used, and have identified neural circuitry abnormalities associated with a number of major psychiatric disorders. Particular areas of focus are the characterization of frontal-limbic modulation abnormalities across the neuropsychiatric spectrum, and the identification of final common neural pathways underlying psychiatric clinical phenotypes. Studies combining neuroimaging with therapeutic and biomarker studies, to test mechanistic hypotheses, are ongoing. Dr. Silbersweig and his colleagues have published numerous scientific articles in leading journals, including first reports localizing brain abnormalities associated with hallucinations in schizophrenia, and with tics in Tourette syndrome. They have also made recognized contributions to neural circuit models of depression and borderline personality disorder. The aim of Dr. Silbersweig’s systems-level neuropathophysiology work is to help provide a foundation for the development of novel, targeted, biologically based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to aid those suffering with mental illness. Dr. Silbersweig has significant involvement (including leadership roles) in national/international research and medical organizations.  He is a Fellow of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, and has played a role in shaping the rapidly developing field of neuropsychiatry through his extensive educational activities, his invited presentations in the United States and abroad, and his work with scientific journals, NIH, conferences and organizations.  Dr. Silbersweig is also bringing translational neuropsychiatry to broader academic and policy domains through the Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Initiative, and the Boston Global Forum.

Steven E. Hyman, MD, is Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Harald McPike Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University and a Core Institute Member and Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The Stanley Center conducts global, large-scale studies of neuropsychiatric genetics and develops new technologies and computational tools to inform neurobiological investigations relevant to psychiatric disorders with the goal of identifying biomarkers and advancing therapeutics.

From 2001 to 2011 Hyman served as Provost of Harvard University, the university’s chief academic officer. From 1996 to 2001, he served as Director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) where he invested in neuroscience and emerging genomic technologies and initiated a series of large practical clinical trials to inform practice. He has served as Editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience (2002-2016), founding President of the International Neuroethics Society (2008-2013), President of the Society for Neuroscience (2015), and President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2018). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine where he chaired the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, which brings together industry, government, foundations, patient groups, and academia (2012-2018) and served on the governing Council (2012-2018). Hyman chairs the Board of Directors of the Charles A. Dana Foundation (NY) and serves on the boards of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering (Geneva) and the scientific publisher Annual Reviews Inc. In the private sector he is a Director of Voyager Therapeutics and of Q-State Biosciences and serves on the scientific advisory boards of Janssen Pharmaceuticals and F-Prime Capital. In 2016, he was awarded the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health by the National Academy of Medicine. He received his BA, summa cum laude, from Yale College, an MA from the University of Cambridge, which he attended as a Mellon fellow studying History and Philosophy of Science, and an MD, cum laude, from Harvard Medical School.

David K. Urion, M.D., FAAN received his A.B. from Dartmouth College, with majors in French and Chemistry, in 1976. He graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1980. After an internship in internal medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he came to Boston Children’s Hospital in 1981 where he trained in pediatrics and then in child neurology in the Longwood Area Neurology Training Program. He joined the Department of Neurology at BCH in 1985. He has served as the Director of Behavioral Neurology, was the first Director of Education for the Department, and served for over a decade as the program director for the child neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities residency programs. He holds the Charles F. Barlow Chair in Neurology.

He did fellowships in Clinical Pastoral Education, through the Schwartz Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Bioethics at the Center for Bioethics at HMS. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee at BCH. He is the author of “Compassion as a Subversive Activity: Illness, Community and the Gospel of Mark”.

His interests in bioethics include creating transnational frameworks for highly expensive biologic therapies, ethical frameworks for considering access and equity in “n of 1 treatment trials” and understanding how neuropsychiatry in Weimar and National Socialist Germany became central to euthanasia programs and the Holocaust.

Bill Shaw is the Vice Provost for Innovation at Tufts University.  As the Vice Provost for Innovation, Bill is responsible for business development activities across the University with a particular focus on establishing strategic partnerships, cultivating entrepreneurship, enhancing the physical infrastructure and engaging the global innovation ecosystem. Bill also oversees several key programs including the Office of the Board of Advisors, Tufts Launchpad|Biolabs and Tufts Launchpad Accelerator.

Bill was previously the Executive Director of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard-affiliated Medical School. The Martinos Center is one of the world’s premier research centers focused on biomedical imaging. Bill worked to create an environment where innovation thrives by bringing together the world’s leading scientists, business leaders and patients to solve important healthcare issues. He was responsible for the leadership of the Center and the administration of its $60+ million in research revenue. In addition, he spearheaded business development activities through establishing relationships with academic institutions, industry participants, philanthropic donors and government agencies. Bill is the founder of several start-up companies including Eikonizo Therapeutics, 149 Medical Inc. and BlinkAI Technologies.  

Bill also possesses extensive experience in establishing international collaboration agreements with a focus on China and Japan. In 2017, he received the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship and spent time traveling through China exploring its innovation ecosystem. 

Bill earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from WPI and a J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law. He also studied Intellectual Property Law at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Bill recently finished a fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics where he focused on the ethical issues related to the interface of artificial intelligence, neuroscience and business.  Bill is a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is a registered patent attorney at the USPTO.

Dr. Michael Young is a neurologist and researcher in the Divison of Neurocritical Care at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is Associate Director of the MGH Neurorecovery Clinic. He completed an internal medicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital followed by Neurology residency and 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 examines ethical dimensions and philosophical frameworks underlying standards of care in medicine and neuroscience, and as a member of the Lab for NeuroImaging of Coma and Consciousness (NICC) and Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery (CNTR), is devoted to improving clinical translation of novel neurotechnologies to detect, predict and improve recovery of consciousness in patients with neurologic disorders in settings of diagnostic and prognostic uncertainty. He has been recognized for his clinical and research expertise locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School with Honors, Magna Cum Laude, where he was awarded the Rose Seegal Award for Research, the Henry K. Beecher Prize in Medical Ethics, and the Neil Samuel Ghiso Fellowship for Compassionate Medical Care. In 2013-2014, he completed a Student Fellowship in the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, and was a Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. He is the recipient of an Early Career Scholar Award from the American Society of Bioethics & Humanities, as well as the Pollard Prize from the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. In 2019, Dr. Young was selected as a member of the Academy of Neurology Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, and in 2020 was selected as the recipient of the AAN H. Richard Tyler Award. Prior to arriving at Harvard, Young completed an M.Phil in philosophy from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, focusing on philosophical issues relating to medicine and the mind. His research is supported by the NIH BRAIN Initiative and American Academy of Neurology.

Insoo Hyun, PhD, is the inaugural Director of the Center for Life Sciences and Public Learning at the Museum of Science, Boston.

Previously, Dr. Hyun has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School, where he was Director of Research Ethics and a faculty member in the Center for Bioethics, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He was also Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students for over 18 years.

Since 2005, Dr. Hyun has been heavily involved with the ISSCR (International Society for Stem Cell Research). He has helped draft all of the ISSCR’s international research guidelines and served twice as the Chair of the ISSCR Ethics Committee. His intellectual interests transcend stem cell ethics and policy to include emerging technologies in the life sciences and new strategies for community engagement in bioengineering. Dr. Hyun is a newly-appointed member of NExTRAC – a federal advisory committee that provides recommendations to the NIH Director and a public forum for the discussion of the scientific, safety, and ethical issues associated with emerging biotechnologies.

Dr. Hyun received his BA and MA in Philosophy with Honors in Ethics in Society from Stanford University and his PhD in Philosophy from Brown University. He has been interviewed frequently on National Public Radio and has served on national commissions for the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. Dr. Hyun is a regular bioethics contributor to Nature, Science, Cell Stem Cell, among many other academic and scientific journals. His book, Bioethics and the Future of Stem Cell Research, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013.

Christine Mitchell trained at Boston University with bachelor’s (1973) and master’s (1976) degrees in nursing. and in ethics and religion at Harvard University (1982) with the support of a Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Fellowship in Medical Ethics. She founded the ethics program at Boston Children’s Hospital, directing the ethics consultation service and leading their Ethics Advisory Committee for over 30 years. In 2014 she became Executive Director of the new Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, where she helped to launch a master of science degree in bioethics, developing their Capstone program as well as Consortia on Clinical Ethics and Research Ethics, and the Leadership Group of ethics committees at 16 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals. She retired from her Executive Director role in 2022 but continues at HMS as a Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS.

Mitchell has lectured on topics in bioethics all over the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. She is President of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors and has served on numerous national committees and commissions, including the Clinical Ethics Consultation Committee for the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, the Ethics Committee for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the International Society for Neuroethics, and the Ethics Advisory Board for the Human Brain Project funded by the European Commission. She has written over 180 articles and chapters on topics in bioethics. Her published work includes documentary films, including one nominated for an Academy Award.