NEWSFLASH: 2011 FORUM presentations are now available for on-line viewing!   CLICK HERE FOR EASY ACCESS

DATES: HELD: April 28-29, 2011

LOCATION: BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, Madison, WI

COORDINATORS: BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute and Promega Corporation

OVERVIEW: Manifesting the Mind was designed to explore the Mind-Brain phenomenon and how this relates to human consciousness.

A characteristic of humans is the desire to reach beyond ourselves to ponder the question of purpose and the higher meaning of our existence. The ability to question -- and perhaps the source of this questioning -- lies within the brain, but defining consciousness is no easy task.

In this spirit, this year’s Bioethics Forum covered a wide range of topics:

• ethnobotany and indigenous cultures
• the savant syndrome
• sleep, dream and wakefulness states
• near death experiences
• neurotransmitters
• quantum perspectives
• recent clinical studies of the therapeutic effects of entheogens
• mindfulness and meditation

Manifesting the Mind brought together world leaders in these fields. They assisted us in exploring these diverse topics in order to enhance our understanding of human potential and our conceptualization of the next step in the evolution of consciousness on this planet.

BROCHURE (web version)

BROCHURE (print version)

PRESENTERS:

Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D. (Director, Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior; Director, Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience; William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Wade Davis, Ph.D. (Anthropologist/Ethnobotanist; Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic)

Roland Griffiths, Ph.D. (Professor of Behavioral Biology, Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)

Kathleen Harrison (President & Project Director, Botanical Dimensions; Ethnobotanist)

William Linton (Chairman & CEO, Promega Corporation)

Jeremy Narby, Ph.D. (Anthropologist/Writer, Nouvelle Planète)

David E. Nichols, Ph.D. (Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Distinguished Chair, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University)

Sam Parnia, M.D., Ph.D., MRCP (Founder & Director, Human Consciousness Project, University of Southampton, U.K; Fellow, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York)

Steve Paulson (Executive Producer, To The Best of Our Knowledge, Wisconsin Public Radio and Public Radio International)

Stephen Ross, M.D. (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Radiology and Medicine; Director, Division of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Bellevue Hospital; Clinical Director, NYU Langone Center of Excellence on Addiction; Associate Director of Addiction Education and Principal Investigator of NYU Psilocybin Cancer Project; Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone School of Medicine & NYU College of Dentistry)

Henry Stapp, Ph.D. (Researcher, Physics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Giulio Tononi, M.D., Ph.D. (Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin- Madison)

Darold A. Treffert, M.D. (Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health)
Links to Dr. Treffert's references:
The Rain Man in All of Us
Islands of Genius

Franz X. Vollenweider, M.D. (Professor, University Hospital of Psychiatry; Director, Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging & Heffter Research Center Zurich)