Recent Faculty Interest Groups

Harvard Neuroethics Hub
Matthew Baum, M.D., D.Phil., Gabriel Lazaro-Munoz, Ph.D., J.D.
Neuroethics is a highly interdisciplinary, burgeoning field that breaks down traditional barriers between neuroscience, neuroengineering, law, philosophy, clinical psychiatry, neurology, and neurosurgery interrogate the implications of developments in one discipline for the others. There is no formal structure to bring these scholars together and thus catalyze longitudinal interdisciplinary scholarship, teaching, and mentorship. While there is increased appetite for opportunities in neuroethics amongst Harvard undergraduate, graduate, law, and medical students, resident physicians, and others, there are no formal training opportunities nor structures to foster relationships with potential mentors and collaborators. The Harvard Neuroethics Hub (HNH) is a step towards remedying these issues through establishment of a trainee fellowship in Neuroethics and group activities that include fellow mentorship meetings, regular meetings of fellowship faculty and fellows to discuss fellows’ works-in progress, and larger interdisciplinary events.

Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth
Marisa M. Silveri, Ph.D., Sion K. Harris, Ph.D., Sabra Katz-Wise, Ph.D., Alex Keuroglian, M.D., Leah Somerville, Ph.D.
The Harvard Professors Initiative for LGBTQ+ Youth (HaPILY Faculty Interest Group) represents a pivotal effort to address mental health disparities in LGBTQ+ youth. These disparities, driven by sexual and gender minority stress, are strongly associated with increased risks for adverse mental health outcomes, suicidality, and substance misuse. Goals of HaPILY: 1. Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Bringing together faculty from various fields at Harvard to integrate diverse perspectives. 2. Community Engagement: Partnering with community-affiliated organizations to align research with real-world needs. 3. Research Advancement: Identifying innovative strategies and building research networks to understand, treat, and prevent mental health challenges faced by LGBTQ+ youth.

Transition to adult medical care for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) 
Sarah Spence, M.D. Ph.D., Carolyn Bridgemohan, M.D.
Adult medical providers have a major gap in their knowledge of how to work with patients
with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) such as intellectual disability, language disorders and autism spectrum disorder. This knowledge gap leads to lower care quality and poorer health outcomes making this a major public health issue for patients who age out of pediatric care. The primary goals for the interest group are to share expertise and ideas with relevant areas of care (e.g. primary care, cognitive and behavioral neurology, psychiatry). Our ultimate aims in gathering these faculty together are to 1) identify the barriers, 2) identify best models to train adult providers (e.g. CME conferences, clinic conferences, consultation model, resident training opportunities), 3) provide an "Action Plan" for collaborating program within Harvard teaching hospitals, 4) develop educational materials/curriculum, 5) conduct pilot trainings, and 6) develop referral processes.

Cross-Disciplinary MBB Music and Science Faculty Interest Group
Christopher Hasty, Ph.D., Nadine Gaab, Ph.D., and Lisa Wong, M.D.
What is the role of music in society? How does music relate to the development of language?  Can music be used therapeutically? The MBB faculty interest group on Music, Science and Medicine consists of approximately 25 participants from several graduate schools and the College. We will meet bimonthly to explore topics such as music’s relationship to time, rhythm, narrative, improvisation and social interaction to try to identify mutual research interests from a cross-disciplinary perspective. 

Ethical Issues in the Neurosciences
Robert Truog, M.D., Christine Mitchell, M.T.S., M.S., Edward Hundert, M.D., Thos Cochrane, M.D.
The group is for those who are interested in the many issues at the intersection of neuroscience and ethics. This includes ethical issues related to neuroscientific technologies and clinical care for patients with neurological disease, and also the neuroscience of ethical decision-making.

Emotion and Decision Processes in Health
Jennifer Lerner, Ph.D., Vaughan Rees, Ph.D., Ichiro Kawachi, M.D., Ph.D.
From mundane to major choices, emotion, decision making, and health are inevitably intertwined. However, there is not presently a unifying forum to promote collaboration on this topic among Harvard experts. Therefore, the Emotion, Decision Making, and Health Faculty Interest Group was formed to catalyze progress on this topic. The primary goals for the Interest Group, which emerged from the fruitful discussion during the kickoff meeting, would be as follows: 1. Discuss topics, issues, methods, and developing research ideas on emotion, decision making, and health; 2. Connect behavioral scientists and health practitioners; 3. Co-author commentary pieces on key topics; and 4. Collaborate on research and/or grant proposals.

Seminars in Brain and Behavior
Edward Kravitz, M.D., Patricia Musolino, M.D., Ph.D., John Dowling, Ph.D., Verne Caviness, M.D., D.Phil.
The Seminars in Brain and Behavior (SBB) are a highly successful group of faculty evening meetings that have been ongoing for the past 12 years. The overall goals are: (i) to bring together faculty members from all of Harvard University who share an interest in the nervous system and how it governs our mind, brain and behavior; (ii) to have sufficient contact time in an informal setting for attendees to actually get to know each other; and (iii) to form new research “Across-the-University” collaborations on interesting scientific questions.