The Neuroscience and Law Center presents

Breakthrough Brain Discoveries and the Law

Wednesday, February 5, 2025
11 a.m. – 4:55 p.m. EDT
Zoom Webinar

5 CLE credits available

4 Ethics and Professionalism
1 Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias

How do breakthrough brain discoveries impact the law? This symposium will feature the country’s top experts speaking on topics as diverse as brain implants and injuries to neuroeconomics, drug addiction, aging and dementia, violence, and the steadfast impact of poverty. Discussions will reveal insights into accompanying legal and ethical challenges, including data security, accessibility and discrimination, regulation, and personal autonomy. Presentations will appeal to lawyers, doctors, scientists, and any interdisciplinary researcher probing these rapidly evolving areas.

This event is made possible through the generous support of the
John Diane Simpson Family Foundation.

Agenda

11:00 – 11:10 am | Welcome

Joseph Landau, JD

Dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law

Fordham University School of Law

Deborah W. Denno, PhD, JD

Arthur A. McGivney Professor of Law

Founding Director, Neuroscience and Law Center

Fordham University School of Law

11:10 am – 12:25 pm | Panel 1

The Ethical and Economic Implications of Emerging Brain Discoveries

Jennifer A. Chandler, JD

Professor

Vice-Dean, Research

Bertram Loeb Research Chair

University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics

Affiliate Investigator, Bruyère Research Institute

Yasmin Hurd, PhD
Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience

Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Pharmacological Sciences

Director, Addiction Institute 

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Paul W. Glimcher, PhD
Julius Silver Professor of Neural Science

Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology

Director, Neuroscience Institute

Professor of Neuroscience, Economics, Psychology and Psychiatry

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Zul Merali, PhD

Professor of Medicine, Social Science and Neuroscience

Founding Director 

Brain and Mind Institute 

Aga Khan University

Kenneth H. Sonnenfeld, PhD, JD (moderator)
Partner

Ballard Spahr

12:25 – 12:30 pm | Short Break

12:30 – 1:45 pm | Panel 2

Developments in Neurotechnology: Balancing Innovation, Privacy, and Ethics

John P. Donoghue, PhD

Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience and Engineering

Carney Brain Institute

Department of Neuroscience

Alpert Medical School

School of Engineering

Brown University

Barbara M.G. Lynn, JD

Judge

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Helen S. Mayberg, MD

Director, Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics

Professor, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, AI & Human Health

Mount Sinai Professor of Neurotherapeutics

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

Nicholas D. Schiff, MD

The Jerold B. Katz Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience 

Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute

Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology, and Public Health

Weill Cornell Medical College

Sam J. Merchant, JD (moderator)
Visiting Assistant Professor

University of Oklahoma College of Law

1:45 – 2:15 pm | Lunch Break

2:15 – 3:30 pm | Panel 3

The Impact of Social Pressures, the Environment, and Neuroethics

Diego Borbón

Researcher & Professor 

Center for Studies on Genetics and Law

Universidad Externado de Colombia 

Oliver Rollins, PhD

Old Dominion Career Development Professor

Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD

Professor of Law & Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Neuroscience

University of Minnesota

Chief Innovation Officer

MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior

Co-Director, Dana Foundation Neurotech Justice Accelerator at Mass General Brigham

Gloria Tan, JD

Associate Justice

Massachusetts Appeals Court

Ashley Warman, MS, HEC-C (moderator)
Medical Ethicist, Northwell Health

Fordham University School of Law ‘26

3:30 – 3:35 pm | Short Break

3:35 – 4:50 pm | Panel 4

The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Neurodegeneration

Joyonna Gamble-George, MHA, PhD

Associate Research Scientist, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Yale School of Public Health

Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS) Fellow

Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA)

Affiliated Investigator

NYU School of Global Public Health Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR)

Virginia Man-Yee Lee, PhD

The John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer's Research

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Co-Director, Marian S. Ware Center for Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Program

James M. Noble, MD, MS, CPH, FAAN

Associate Professor of Neurology at CUIMC

Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain 

G.H. Sergievsky Center

Department of Neurology

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Jed Rakoff, JD
Judge

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

Elizabeth Kelley, JD (moderator)
Criminal Defense Lawyer Specializing in Representing People with Mental Disabilities

4:50 – 4:55 pm | Concluding Remarks

Erica Valencia-Graham, JD

Research Director & Edelman Fellow

Neuroscience and Law Center

Fordham University School of Law

For Our Profession, Society, and World