Speakers

Dr. Grant is a Neuroradiologist and the Käthe Beutler, MD Harvard Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. She is Director of Faculty Affairs for Radiology, Director of Research for the Maternal Fetal Care Center and founding Director of the Fetal Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (FNNDSC). The FNNDSC currently has over 70 members with 17 faculty and 6 postdoctoral students. Three modalities being developed in the Center are Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and quantitative Near Infrared Spectroscopy (qNIRS) with a focus on the fetus, placenta and neonate. Dr. Grant is a Senior Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and sits on the Board of Scientific Counselors for National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). In 2021 she received the Outstanding Contributions in Research Award from the American Society of Neuroradiology and in 2022 she received the Gold Medal Award from the American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology. She has an h-index of 73 and is currently PI/MPI of 6 major NIH grants.

Mark S. Blumberg is University of Iowa Distinguished Chair and chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa. His most recent work in rodents and humans explores how movements during sleep shape brain activity and sensorimotor development. Blumberg has published 150 articles and chapters, authored three books of general science, and co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Behavioral Neuroscience. His research contributions have been recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS Fellow), the American Psychological Association (Early Career Award), and NIH (MERIT Award), which has funded his research continuously for 30 years.

Dr. Lauren Emberson is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. Dr. Emberson has received a number of awards including the Boyd McCandless Award from APA 9 and the APS Rising Star award. Her research focuses on how learning and experience support the functional development of the infant brain. Dr. Emberson and her lab use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the learning process as it unfolds and have developed new paradigms and analytic methods for using fNIRS to understand the functional neural bases of learning and development.

Charlie Demené is an associate Professor at ESPCI PSL research University, and a researcher at Physics for Medicine Paris, France. After a PhD under the supervision of Prof Mickaël Tanter at the Institut Langevin, on the development of a brain functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging, he joined the Geneva Hospital to develop cerebral ultrasound localization microscopy enabling visualization of cerebral vessels <100 µm. His major contribution to the field is the development of ultrafast ultrasound and fUS imaging for neonatal brain applications, with the first proofs of concept of cerebro-vascular resistivity mapping, epilepsy fUS imaging, and fUS-based connectivity mapping. His current research interests spans ultrasound microvascular imaging and signal processing, brain functional imaging using ultrasound, ultrafast ultrasound localization microscopy and ultrasound bioeffects for sonogenetics and mechanotransduction.

Dr. Ouyang is an Assistant Professor from the Department of Radiology at University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Ouyang is a Junior Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and has an in-depth background in MRI physics, and expertise in optimizing MR neuroimaging protocols in pediatric population, especially for diffusion and perfusion MRI acquisitions. Her research has focused on both development of cutting-edge imaging, processing and machine learning techniques as well as transitioning existing techniques into clinical practice to study the brain perfusion, structure, function and connectivity in neonatal, infant and pediatric populations.

Dr. Kathryn Humphreys is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. She is a clinical psychologist by training and has expertise in infant and early childhood mental health and developmental neuroscience. Her research program consists of both basic and applied work, with more than 170 publications and book chapters on development, adversity, caregiving, and psychopathology. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and private foundations. Dr. Humphreys is the recipient of several early career awards, including the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science.