PROVIDENCE – Brain Week Rhode Island will take place this month, with five days of free programs showcasing neuroscience’s deep roots in the Ocean State.
The event, canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has gone virtual this year, coinciding with Brain Awareness Week.
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Programs are scheduled from March 15-19.
The week starts off with a lunchtime series of storytelling and talks on topics such as memory; sleep and migraine; the effects of exercise on the brain; and racism’s impact on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, associate professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, along with Brain Week’s Executive Committee, will host the lunchtime presentations.
Other programs include a series of four plays written by local playwrights, and a panel discussion on mindfulness practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Oluwarotimi Folorunso, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Translational Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School’s psychiatric teaching hospital, is co-chairing this year’s events.
“BWRI gives me an opportunity to introduce neuroscience to kids at an early age, which was an experience that was not available to, or afforded to, me,” Folorunso said. “I love kids, love studying the brain, and want to impart my excitement and enthusiasm to as many children as possible – especially in Rhode Island’s more-underserved communities.”
Folorunso is also director of the inaugural McLean’s Mental Health Research Summer Program for promising young Black, Indigenous and underrepresented people of color undergraduate students.
For a full schedule of Brain Week Rhode Island events, visit brainweekri.org/events.
BRAINY Adventures, an educational program created by Brain Week Rhode Island, is also presenting a series of presentations for schools. Visit brainweekri.org/index.php/brainy-visits/brainy-adventures for more information.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
