Gene Brody Symposiums

Each year, the Center for Family Research presents the Gene Brody Symposium to the research community. This symposium, named after CFR founder, Dr. Gene Brody, brings important researchers and thinkers to campus–either physically or virtually–to discuss research related to human development and prevention science. Beginning in 2021, the symposium was presented virtually which allows us to archive them here for future viewing.

A discussion with Debra Furr-Holden, a highly regarded scholar in health disparities and policy-level interventions promoting health equity. Dr. Furr-Holden is Dean of NYU’s School of Global Public Health and has extensive experience working with local and national policymakers through her action-oriented research.

More about our guest and host

Debra Furr-Holden 

April Few-Demo

This symposium was a fascinating discussion about the adolescent brain between Adriana Galván, Professor of Psychology at UCLA, and Olu Ajilore, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The discussion explored Dr. Galvan’s multimodal approach to understanding how brain development in adolescents affects and is affected by experience. How can caregivers, educators and practitioners support adolescents through this developmental period? How does adolescent brain development affect their ability to learn? What is the effect of sleep and stress on adolescent cognitive and emotional development? Hear what Dr. Galván is learning from her research and what questions remain.

Led by Dr. Nia Heard-Garris of Northwestern University, this conversation with Kimberly Noble, MD, PhD–Professor of Neuroscience and Education at Columbia University–explored the relation between poverty and child development including learning more about a ground-breaking study underway to learn if simply reducing poverty alone can affect brain development positively.

UGA’s Sycarah Fisher talks with Sherman James about the development and implications of his “John Henryism” theory. See more related resources on our John Henryism page.