Dear Friends of the Inspired Leadership Initiative,

This time of year between the holidays and Spring Break is when a lot of the magic happens for all the students across campus. This is true for freshmen who have begun to hit their stride, to seniors like our daughter who are trying to do as much as possible before their college years end, to our fellows who are engaging in multiple ways across campus.

In this issue, we wanted to expose you to a range of perspectives from amazing faculty and current fellows to give you a sense of all this University has to offer. We are truly fortunate to have the broad support of this great University and want to encourage those of you interested in the ILI to express that soon, as we are experiencing significant interest in our next cohort commencing this fall.

With gratitude for your engagement,

MEMORY, AGING, AND THE BRAIN: DR. NATHAN ROSE

We have all had that experience of walking into another room and forgetting why we went there in the first place. There are times in our lives when our memory seems to be failing us, sometimes more acutely—when there’s stress or distraction—due to work, health, finances, or family. And then the final blow: aging.

University of Notre Dame Professor Nathan Rose is interested in all these aspects of memory. How do we hold information in our brains? How do we “remember to remember?” Are there ways we can stimulate the brain to remember better? (Here’s a hint: If you are in the Inspired Leadership Initiative, you are on the right track!)

Rose and his team seek answers to these questions daily in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory & Aging Lab, which Rose established in 2016, and is housed in Corbett Family Hall. 

“I have been interested in memory and how memory works for a very long time,” says Rose. “I think experiences that really inspired my strong interest in memory and how it works came from some concussions early in life. Once I was involved in a bike accident. I received treatment, but I have no recollection of the day's events. My first memory is waking up in the middle of the night. Finding myself in that state and not knowing what had happened to me—for a young boy—just trying to think about how that worked was a pretty phenomenal experience.”

Rose also experienced the anguish and helplessness of watching Alzheimer’s disease rob a loved one—his grandmother—of her memory and lucidity.  

His first foray into serious research was at Washington University in St. Louis. He went as a research assistant and stayed to earn his PhD. Though he was in a speech and hearing lab, it was just a different way of looking at what he is still looking at today. They collected data on predictors of age-related declines in listening comprehension through both hearing ability and speech perception ability, as well as memory capacity.

“My dissertation was on the similarities and differences between working memory [holding a small amount of information over a short period of time] and long-term memory, but also prospective memory, which is the ability to remember intended actions in the future, or ‘remembering to remember’: things like taking medication and turning off appliances,” he explains.

His research was not only about how much information one can retain and for how long, but also can one remember and work with that information? What if there’s a distraction? He also began devising memory strategies that can potentially be useful to all of us, but especially so for someone with a disease like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

Rose’s next move would add significantly to his body of work. He took a postdoctoral position at the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. It’s a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. This was where he began neuroimaging research through electroencephalogram (EEG)—measuring brain waves from the scalp—and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)—measuring brain activity in an MRI scanner. It would be an area Rose would develop further as his career progressed.

At Rotman, he and colleagues also developed a brain training “game” that has shown such promise, it’s being tested in a more broad way through a grant-funded study in Australia. 

“The game puts the user in a virtual week scenario. You have to remember to perform certain tasks over the course of the virtual day—take your medicine at certain times, take things out of the oven. We had a group of older adults play this over and over, and we saw their prospective memory and instrumental activities of daily living improve. It’s challenging, but people do learn ways to get better,” he says.

It was at Rose’s second postdoc in a psychiatry lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that he really honed the advanced skills and techniques he uses today for fMRI and EEG analysis with the administration of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): non-invasive (i.e. does not enter the body) brain stimulation using a magnetic field.  

“We take a wand, and we can hold it over different parts of the brain and cause neurons under the coil to become active,” Rose explains. “We use it as a way to “ping” the brain and detect states of cortical excitability—brain excitability.”

They then ask participants to remember something, then force them to shift their focus, and then see how well they can recall the initial thing. Then they “ping” them with TMS. 

“Say you have a face and a word you are trying to remember,” explains Rose. “Both of these are being held actively by the brain, but if attention shifts, if we ask them to think about the face but don’t forget about the word, when attention shifts to thinking about the face, the brain evidence or neural evidence drops as if it’s been forgotten. It’s no longer active in working memory. We can tell by brain decoding. We can see from the brain activity whether the person is thinking about the face or the word or a different kind of information.”

As the study progressed, the team became more and more fascinated by the results. What they found is that, when something looked like it had been forgotten, the “ping” can actually cause it to become reactivated and remembered.

This discovery was huge, and the group did four experiments over three years in order to solidify the findings. Ultimately, the research was published in Science, which is widely recognized as one of the world’s top academic journals. 

Rose says it opened up a lot of questions to be addressed, and that is what he is working on now at Notre Dame. His research program has two main threads: advancing science and social outreach. How does memory work, and how can we help people remember?

“I have set up the brain stimulation and neuroimaging research, and we are extending the results from the memory reactivation findings in younger adults with a different series of studies on older adults,” he says. “This research was recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).”

Rose gets excited when he talks about the potential. TMS is already an FDA-approved treatment for anxiety and depression, and he sees that reach expanding. 

“We are trying to figure out ways to improve the ability to remember, not necessarily prevent cognitive decline, a certain amount of decline is totally normal in adulthood, but we are trying to figure out how we can design applications and procedures to help improve memory,” he says.

In addition to his lab’s work and the study in Australia, Rose is collaborating with others at ND on outreach. Building upon the brain game, he and colleagues have set up a virtual reality laboratory to measure prospective memory in real-world scenarios. He has also joined forces with Professors Cindy Bergeman and Josh Koen to add a brain and memory component to a health and well-being study Bergeman has been running for over 15 years on about 1,000 members of the South Bend community. 

“Just the act of participating in this study has been good for the participants,” he says, “We have flagged people with serious impending health issues that were going untreated.”

Going forward, they want to also teach wellness best practices and get ahead of memory loss and dementia. Rose notes their goals mirror the ILI program in many ways. 

“We want to identify people who have elevated risk, and then enroll them in a holistic intervention to get them involved in exercise, diet, and cognitive stimulation, by bringing them ‘back to school,’” he says.

Additionally, they have found socialization to be one of the most rewarding and helpful aspects. 

“Your social structure, that is a form of cognitive stimulation that is really important— challenging your mind and brain to meet new people and learn new things, that can be of value in the ever-evolving workplace,” he says.

Rose goes as far as to say the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) model, in conjunction with diet and exercise, could actually be used as an intervention to prevent cognitive decline and promote health and well-being. He says the intergenerational aspect of the ILI is another key component that is highly beneficial for all parties. He notes that other universities are doing similar programs and measuring the benefits. 

“Going back to school, getting better educated, learning new skills, or training for a rewarding occupation could be really powerful for protecting against cognitive declines,” he says.

And maybe it will even lead to fewer wasted trips up the stairs, to get something we forgot we needed.

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Nathan Rose holds an endowed position as the William P. and Hazel B. White Assistant Professor of Psychology. He teaches cognitive psychology, introduction to cognitive neuroscience, and advanced cognitive neuroscience.

If you had to sum up Jefferson Ko’s journey in one word, that word would be value.

If you’re already turning the term around in your mind, it’s because value is nuanced and carries emotion and—especially at first blush—means different things to different people. These varied definitions all have meaning for Jeff.

He grew up and was educated in the Philippines. “Our culture is very homogenous,” he says. “Most Filipinos are Catholic and have the same values and cultural background. I was taught by Jesuits throughout school. We live a very Catholic, Christian lifestyle.” 

This upbringing etched out Jeff’s foundational core values and virtues. 

His next phase would be influenced more by monetary value, but his drive in this regard had a two-fold purpose. When Jeff graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a management engineering degree, he was already thinking far into his future. 

“I had already established a plan for myself, that I should reach my financial goal by a certain age,” he says. “After which, I would do something that isn’t purely for financial considerations.”

To reach his financial goal, Jeff went into finance. 

His career began in his native Philippines, but he wanted to experience more of the world and expand his outlook—he also wanted to reach that goal in a shorter period of time. So he took an opportunity in Singapore and never looked back. He credits the small but robust country with his considerable success.

“My work experience in the Philippines laid out the groundwork for me, but Singapore provided me with great opportunities,” he says, crediting the place that came to be his adopted home. “It didn’t matter that I was a foreigner. If you work hard and have the skillset, you can move up and achieve things.” 

Both of which, he did. Over a twenty-year career in banking, Jeff traded currencies and interest rates and even did wealth management. He quickly reached his financial goals and remembered the promise he had made to himself when he started out, to move on to something that may not be lucrative, but would contribute to a world in need. 

“It had always been on my mind. It had always been something that was lingering, even while I was working,” he recalls. 

It was with this mindset that he saw an advertisement for a continuing education program that was designed for professionals who had already built and enjoyed successful careers. He started doing research and discovered the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) at the University of Notre Dame.

“To be honest, I hadn’t really heard about Notre Dame,” he shares with a laugh. “I just knew it was near Chicago.” 

Though he was just learning about the University, it was its Catholic character that called to him—a man who had been educated by Jesuits—and eventually drew him in.

“I thought it would be good to go to a place that represents my core values,” he says. “And that Notre Dame would probably be the most evident match. The way they positioned the program, was that it wasn’t required, but you could make it as much of a religious or spiritual experience as you wanted. The meaning of life, for me, would involve my faith, my values, and how it all interacts with what I want to do for the future. I contacted Tom [Schreier], and through our discussions found it was exactly what I was looking for.” 

So Jeff applied and was accepted—to a program halfway around the world. His first time at Notre Dame was when he arrived the day before orientation, the weekend before the program officially started. 

“It was actually a bold move—a leap of faith—to put myself in that situation,” he says, thinking back.

When he arrived, he found out that at 42-years-old, he was the youngest fellow in the ILI, and one of only two non-Americans. These facts might have been unsettling at first, but they allowed him to fully immerse in the program, while also serving as a resource to his classmates and the University community.

During Jeff’s time in the program, he built lasting relationships with the other fellows, mentored undergraduate and graduate students, and even attended a silent retreat.

“I think it was the full-time experience of being there, of discovering, of detaching myself from my day-to-day life, that I really had the chance to explore a different environment and think through what I wanted to do,” he says. 

Like his classmates, Jeff was trying to discern, “What’s next?” He sees his life in two parts, essentially, the first 40 years and the next 40 years. In his class with Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., he learned to put that in terms of the first half of life being the “outer journey,” the second half of life being the “inner journey.” When Jeff gave a presentation to his classmates, he said it was the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues, and that difference would define his future.  

“How will people remember you? How have you impacted their lives? I didn’t want to work just for the money anymore. I wanted to find fulfillment in what I do,” he says.

There was some irony in what was to come. 

Along with self-reflection and inward-focused classes and seminars, Jeff took some business courses, because they were of interest to him. His academic work proved just as significant to his discernment process.

One professor asked the class what the main purpose of doing business is. They responded that it’s to make money. Profit. He said it’s not. It’s to add value: to produce something, a service or product, that is adding value to society. There’s Jeff’s word again! This idea had a big impact. It was a shift in his mindset.

“It was a new way of thinking for me,” he says. “I thought the only way for me moving forward was nonprofit or church-related activities. I thought that was the only way for me to help society or gain fulfillment. But now in the back of my mind, I know the most important thing is to add value, and that can be done in the business world too.” 

Perhaps the way he would conduct himself and how he would guide his organization would be just as important as what he would be doing and where he would be doing it.

It was with this mentality Jeff took a banking position in the Philippines: a one-year consulting contract in 2020.

“I wanted to see for myself if what I learned can be applied to real life,” he says. “If rather than going to an NGO or doing volunteer work, I can do business but with a different mindset. It’s not the same attitude anymore. I am not doing this for financial gain. It’s how will I be able to add value to make the firm I am working for a better place and an institution that adds value to its people and society.” 

Even though Jeff, in conducting this “experiment,” is as goal-oriented as ever, he is determined to use another lesson learned during his time in the ILI.

“I was always concentrated on the destination—where I wanted to go and what I wanted to achieve. A lot of times I forgot to enjoy the journey toward the destination,” he says.

But in this second phase of life, Jefferson Ko will be enjoying every moment. After all, what has greater value than time?