Often called “The fun doctor,” Rick Solomon M.D., Medical Director at Ann Arbor Center for Development and Behavioral Pediatrics, will be one of the guests on Conversations! where he will answer questions and discuss the latest advances in autism. Dr. Solomon is a developmental pedriatician. His widely admired PLAY Project Autism Intervention Model helps young children improve their language, development, and autism severity and his book, “Autism: The Potential Within”, details the intervention. He will be joined by Rebecca Newman who will describe her life as someone with autism.

Chuck Newman interviews Award-Winning Psychologist Ethan Kross who released his First Book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
Ethan Kross, psychologist, professor, and author shares his research on how the conversations people have with themselves impacts their health, performance, decisions and relationships and shape their lives and give them the power to change themselves. He describes groundbreaking behavioral and brain research with colorful real-world examples.

Learn everything you should know about coronaviruses, including vaccinations, mutations, antiviral treatments and what we should be doing to protect ourselves from future pandemics.

Dr. Susan Weiss is considered “The Mother of Coronaviruses” and is co-director of Penn’s new Center of Research for Coronaviruses and Other Emerging Pathogens.

Dr. Scott Small has dedicated his career to understanding why memory forsakes us. As director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University, he focuses largely on patients who experience pathological forgetting, and it is in contrast to their suffering that normal forgetting, which we experience every day, appears in sharp relief.

How do we define quality of life, and what is important?

There are widespread calls for all of our social institutions to be more inclusive; universities are no exception.

Join Abigail Stewart, Ph.D., for an exploration of some of the reasons social scientists have uncovered that help explain why it is difficult for institutions—and individuals—to be inclusive, even when they express a desire to be. More importantly, Dr Stewart will use the work of social scientists to establish how individuals can actually realize our ideals, and create more inclusive spaces for work and learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an enormous disruption, uncertainty, and stress in our everyday lives. Attendees will hear from Kelcey Stratton, PhD, from the Michigan Medicine Office of Workplace Resilience and Michelle B. Riba, MD, MS, from Michigan Workplace Mental Health Solutions at the University of Michigan Depression Center, on how to adapt to new mental health challenges in the workplace (and at home). Specifically, this session will discuss strategies and resources for coping with stress, building resilience, and caring for our wellbeing in the midst of this ongoing stressor.

Join Dr. Donna Nagata of the University of Michigan's Department of Psychology for a presentation on her research into the long term societal impacts of our country's incarceration of Japanese American citizens during World War II.