We’ve gone to the moon, we’ve created life, and yet fact and fiction about the brain is still blurred. Join Dr Nicola Gates, John Elder Robison, Dr Nancy Pachana and David Astle as they talk about brain health and positive minds.
For more on John Elder Robison, read our Artist Highlight.
Stanley Place, Cultural Centre, Southbank, Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia
Open in MapsDavid Astle is a full-time word nerd. Many know him as the dictionary man on Letters and Numbers. Or just as DA, the devious crossword-setter in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Between puzzles, he’s written half a dozen wordy-nerdy books, including Riddledom, Cluetopia and Puzzled.
Dr Nicola Gates PhD, author of A Brain for Life, is a clinical neuropsychologist, neuroscientist, and conjoint lecturer with the Centre of Healthy Brain Ageing UNSW. She earned her Doctorate in Neuropsychiatry investigating physical exercise, cognitive training and psychological wellbeing for dementia prevention and continues to investigate health promotion and disease prevention. She has spoken to thousands about the importance of life-style and mindstyle for total health and positive living, and is well published in academic journals and general media. When not researching and promoting well-being Nicola continues to improve individuals’ lives through her private clinic brain and mind psychology in Sydney.
John Elder Robison is the New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye, Be Different, Raising Cubby, and the newly released Switched On. An autistic adult who grew up in a world of machines, he has designed special effects guitars for KISS and established a business restoring Land Rover, Mercedes, and Rolls-Royce motorcars. John serves on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which produces the strategic plan for autism for the US government. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his family and an Imperial Chinese War Pug.
Dr Nancy A. Pachana is a clinical geropsychologist, neuropsychologist and professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, and is co-director of the UQ Ageing Mind Initiative, providing a focal point for clinical, translational ageing-related research at UQ. She has an international reputation in the area of geriatric mental health, particularly with her research on late-life anxiety disorders. She is co-developer of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, a published brief self-report inventory in wide clinical and research use globally, translated into over two dozen languages. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and books on various topics in the field of ageing, and has been awarded more than $20 million in competitive research funding, primarily in the areas of dementia and mental health in later life. Her research is well-cited cited and she maintains a clear international focus in her collaborations and research interests, which include anxiety in later life, psychological interventions for those with Parkinson’s Disease, nursing home interventions, driving safety and dementia, teaching and learning in psychogeriatrics and mental health policy and ageing.
Nancy was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2014. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, and is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including an Australian Davos Connection Future Summit Leadership Award, for leadership on ageing issues in Australia. She serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science, one of the top two journals in the world for publication of research in the science of the psychology of aging. Originally from the United States, Nancy was awarded her AB from Princeton University in 1987, her PhD from Case Western Reserve University in 1992, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, Los Angeles, and the Palo Alto Veterans Medical Center, Palo Alto, California. She is an avid bird watcher and photographer and an intrepid traveller.
