Speakers
Keynote Speakers:
Tetsuya Iidaka
Brain & Mind Research Center, Nagoya University, Japan
Dr. Tetsuya Iidaka is a Professor at Brain & Mind Research Center Nagoya University, and a neuroscientist who is studying the neural substrates of emotional and social behavior in humans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). His specific interest is to elucidate the functional role of the amygdala in the affective and cognitive domains of mental activity in human subjects. In addition, Dr. Iidaka, as a psychiatrist, has conducted neuroimaging studies of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder, and revealed that neural connectivity in the resting state is altered in patients with these disorders. Dr. Iidaka has been approached by various scientific journals for the role of a reviewer and has edited and written a chapter on cognitive and system neuroscience in English and textbooks on clinical psychiatry for medical students and the general audience in Japanese.
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Laboratory of Neuropsychology and Human Neuroscience, The University of Hong Kong
Tatia Lee, currently an Associate Vice-President, is the Chair Professor of Psychological Science and Clinical Psychology and May Endowed Professor in Neuropsychology of The University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on the neuroplastic underpinnings of the brain and psychological health, especially for older people. She is an elected Fellow of learned societies, including the UK Academy of Social Sciences, the American Psychological Association (Society of Clinical Psychology and Society of Clinical Neuropsychology), the Association for Psychological Science (Clinical Psychology), and the American College of Professional Neuropsychology.
Session speakers:
Department of Neurology, UCSF Memory and Aging Center, CA, USA
Boon Lead received her medical school training from the National Taiwan University Hospital. She then completed her neurology residency training from National Taiwan University Hospital and En Chu Kong Hospital. She also pursued her master's degree in Clinical Medicine Research at National Taiwan University. After completing her master's degree, she joined the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). She recently joined the Department of Neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center as an Assistant Professor.
Department of Neurology, UCSF Memory and Aging Center, CA, USA
Adit Friedberg is a behavioral neurologist trained in the Department of Neurology in the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. She received her MD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (cum laude). She also completed a degree in Biotechnology Engineering (cum laude) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She is currently a currently a clinical and research fellow at the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF. Her research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying complex behaviors in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Manson Cheuk-Man Fong is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. After completing his BSc and MPhil in Physics from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he got his PhD in Electronic Engineering in 2016 from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he studied the link between the perceptual vowel space and event-related potentials. He did his postdoctoral work with Prof. William S-Y. Wang, focusing on using an individual differences and multi-modal approach to clarify the associations between cognitive & semantic functions. His current research interests include neural reorganization in ageing, neuroplasticity induced by foreign language learning, and brain-age markers for dementia. He is also a member of the Research Institute for Smart Ageing, HKPolyU.
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Japan
Dr. Yuko Okamoto is an Associate Professor at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Studies, Waseda University, and is investigating about the neural basis of social cognition (e.g. body perception, self-recognition and imitation) in autism spectrum disorder using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). She felt that while ASD children learn various skills as they grow when working with autistic children, however the field of cognitive neuroscience lacks a developmental perspective. Based on the perspective, she has conducted cross-sectional study and she showed that developmental delay in the visual cortex representing human body parts in autistic children improves in adulthood. Her current interest is understanding the factors that contribute to the diverse development of the visual cortex across autistic individuals. She is also a Japan site manager of U21 Autism Research Network, which conducting cultural comparison studies of autism spectrum disorders across seven countries.
Physical Education and Sports Science Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE),
Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
Dr Goodwill completed her PhD in exercise neurophysiology in 2016 from Deakin University (Australia) and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) Academic Group at National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Prior to joining NIE, Dr Goodwill worked as a Senior Research Officer on a longitudinal study of cognitive aging at the Australian Catholic University and the Centre for Medical Research (Royal Melbourne Hospital), before joining the Centre for Research and Development in Learning (CRADLE) and Clinical Brain Laboratory at NTU as a Research Scientist. Alicia's research employs neurophysiological techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the functional brain adaptations (neuroplasticity) that underpin motor and cognitive performance. She is interested in the application of these techniques to examine how modifiable health-related lifestyle characteristics impact neuroplasticity and associated behavioural outcomes. Alicia is also interested in the application of neuroscience research to learning and education. Her current work in this area is looking at methods to develop brain literacy among educators.
Brain Health Lab, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
Huong Ha obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University in 2018. While at Stanford, she worked with supervision from Prof. John Huguenard and Prof. Craig Garner to understand the molecular mechanisms and network deficits associated with autism and epilepsy using genetic manipulation, microscopy, electrophysiology, biochemistry and EEG techniques on hippocampal cell culture and mouse models. Her major dissertation work led to a significant understanding of the interplay roles between zinc and Shank proteins on AMPAR development. Upon returning to Vietnam, she was struck when recognizing how rapidly the population is aging, how relevant mental illnesses are among the population, and how outdated, inadequate the whole mental healthcare system is. This recognization motivated her to establish the first neuroscience research group in Vietnam, named Brain Health Lab. The first main research goal is to develop novel, efficient and accurate methods to diagnose and monitor neurodegenerative disorders and all stress-related illnesses. Our lab is also interested in understanding the risk factors that influence the rate of disease progression for all brain aging- or stress-induced conditions in order to design appropriate intervention programs. We employ an interdisciplinary approach, using a wide range of toolkits such as molecular techniques, EEG, fNIRS in combination with machine learning analysis.