Annual McNair Symposiums Bring Together Brightest Minds in Neurosciences
The intersection of neuronal activity and the development of certain kinds of brain cancer as well as how artificial intelligence serves as a window into brain function took center stage at the 10th and 11th annual McNair Symposiums, hosted by the McNair Medical Institute at Baylor College of Medicine.
In 2007, The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation pledged $100 million to Baylor with the intention of recruiting talented scientists and physician scientists from around the world to the Texas Medical Center (TMC) as McNair Scholars. Now under the auspices of the McNair Medical Institute, McNair Scholars pursue collaborative and transformational research at Baylor in cancer, diabetes and neurosciences, the latter of which is the focus today. The McNair Foundation also established the McNair M.D./Ph.D. Scholars program, which is designed to train highly motivated students who split their time between conducting biomedical research and caring for patients. The McNair M.D./ Ph.D. Scholars program celebrated its milestone 25th anniversary at the most recent symposium.
At the annual symposium, McNair Scholars and McNair M.D./Ph.D. Scholars share their latest discoveries and engage in scientific dialogues with the TMC community. They are selected to present at the symposiums in order to share their knowledge with other scientists and pursue opportunities for collaboration.
Internationally renowned experts Michelle Monje, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford Medicine and an expert in the development of brain tumors, and Matthew Botnivick, M.D., Ph.D., senior director of Research at DeepMind and honorary professor in the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at University College London, delivered keynote lectures at each symposium.