NRD 2021 presents…
COVID-19 and the Brain Panel
Adrian Owen, PhD
Adrian M. Owen OBE, PhD is currently a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging in the Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Psychology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He also directs the Brain, Mind, and Consciousness program funded by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and is on the Executive Committee of the CFREF funded initiative BrainsCAN at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. Owen was previously the Assistant Director of the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge University and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at Western University. Adrian Owen is best known for showing that functional neuroimaging can reveal conscious awareness in some patients who appear to be entirely vegetative and can even allow some of these individuals to communicate their thoughts and wishes to the outside world. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and a best-selling popular science book ‘Into the Gray Zone: A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death. Dr. Owen was recently awarded Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Honors List, 2019, for services to scientific research.
Shibani Mukerji, MD, PhD
Dr. Mukerji is the Associate Director of the Neurology Infectious Diseases Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Since March, she has led efforts to improve understanding of neurological manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection across the Massachusetts General Brigham (MGB) hospital networks. This includes improving understanding of neuropathological and neuroradiographic manifestations of COVID-19. She has co-authored 8 research and opinion publications and given numerous talks on the topic of neurological manifestations of SARS-CoV-2. Her research interests are in integration of patient-derived data including clinical, laboratory, neuroimaging, and metabolite profiling to improve therapeutic targeting of neurological comorbidities in people with HIV. Dr. Mukerji is supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health and James S. McDonnell Foundation.
Sonu Bhaskar, MD, PhD
Dr Sonu Bhaskar is a clinician-scientist and academic neurologist with a specialisation in vascular neurology and neuroradiology with research interests in global neurology, health systems and public health. Dr Bhaskar is the Founding Director of NSW Brain Clot Bank – a flagship world’s first initiative established with the funding from the NSW Ministry of Health. He is the two-time winner of the recently awarded prestigious European Academy of Neurology Investigator Award (2019) and Rotary Vocational Excellence Award (2020). Dr Bhaskar has been featured on Sydney Morning Herald, 9 News, Reuters Health, Rotary Down Under, AI in Healthcare and ABC News/MSN. Dr Bhaskar leads national and international initiatives on reducing health disparities with a focus on vulnerable populations and under-resourced settings. During the COVID19 pandemic, Dr Bhaskar is leading the Pandemic Health System REsilience PROGRAM (REPROGRAM) international consortium formed to champion the safety of healthcare workers, policy development and advocacy for global pandemic preparedness and action.
Robert Stevens, MD
Dr. Stevens is an intensive care physician who treats patients with critical surgical and neurological illnesses and injuries. He has special expertise in the care of traumatic brain injury, stroke, encephalopathy, and in the management of patients after cardiac arrest. Following medical studies, Dr. Stevens completed residency in anesthesiology and fellowships in critical care medicine and neurocritical care. He also completed postdoctoral research training in molecular neurobiology, cellular electrophysiology, advanced magnetic resonance imaging, and brain mapping. He is Director of Precision Medicine for Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Neurocritical Care Precision Medicine Center of Excellence. He holds faculty appointments in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering, Institute for Computational Medicine, and the FM Kirby Center for Functional Neuroimaging. Dr. Stevens holds leadership positions in the Society of Critical Care Medicine, European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Society of Critical Care Anesthesiology, and Neurocritical Society, and he is an Associate Editor of the journals Thorax, Critical Care Medicine, Neurocritical Care, Annals of Intensive Care and Frontiers in Neurology.