2018 Grand Challenges Symposium: Understanding how changes in the brain produce neurological and mental illness

The keynote speaker is Kafui Dziarsa, MD, PhD who will be addressing the Grand Challenge of Reverse Engineering the Brain. As the first African American to complete a PhD in Neurobiology at Duke University, psychiatrist Kafui Dzirasa is pushing the limits in more ways than one. His research is focused on rethinking the framework that currently dictates the way we diagnose, view, and treat mental illness. Through his work, Kafui hopes to reveal links between brain circuit malfunction and symptoms of mental illness, with the ultimate goal of producing neuroelectrical stimulation remedies for these diseases. Kafui is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Duke University School of Medicine. In 2008, he was recognized as one of Ebony Magazine's 30 Young Leaders of the Future and his laboratory has been featured on CBS 60 Minutes. View his TEDMED talk at https://www.tedmed.com/speakers/show?id=619740. This event is free and open to the Duke Community. Arrive early at 5pm outside Schiciano to meet the Duke Grand Challenge Scholars.