Saint Helena Forum

Our Ageing Brain and Body

Unraveling mechanisms of longevity, resilience,

and neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Dena Dubal in conversation with Journalist David Freed

One of society's most persistent myths: that immigrants bring crime to their new countries.

Dr. Charis Kubrin in conversation with Journalist David Freed.

Charis E. Kubrin is the Chancellor’s Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irving. A central portion of Prof. Kubrin’s research examines the immigration-crime nexus and considers the impact of immigration-related policy on immigrants, immigrant families and immigrant communities. Prof. Kubrin has received several national awards from the American Society of Criminology for significant contributions to racial and ethnic issues in the field of criminology. Most recently, she has just returned from Sweden where she was co-recipient of the 2026 Stockholm Prize in Criminology, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for outstanding achievement in criminological research in crime prevention and the promotion of human rights. The irony at the heart of Kubrin’s work is striking: while study after study over the past century has shown immigrants have lower crime rates than native-born populations, public perception stubbornly clings to the opposite belief.Dr. Kubrin recently co-authored the book Immigration and Crime -Taking Stock, a timely examination of immigration policies and practices and their impact on public safety comprehensive and a resource on questions of linkages between crime and immigration, citizenship, and race/ethnicity.

The Science of Doing Good

Is it a source of joy or is it selfishness?

Dr. Abigail Marsh in conversation with Journalist David Freed

Professor Matthew Williams in conversation with Journalist David Freed

About Dr. Michelle Fournet:

Michelle Fournet is a National Geographic Explorer, a professor of marine biology at the University of New Hampshire, a behavioral ecologist, and the director of the Sound Science Research Collective. As a bio acoustician, Fournet specializes in listening to the world's oceans and the marine animals who live there. Her research focuses on investigating how animals communicate underwater, and how anthropogenic (man-made) activities are changing ocean ecosystems. Fournet is particularly interested in marine mammals including humpback whales, bowhead whales, harbor seals and bearded seals. Fournet's research experience spans pole-to-pole with expeditions and projects ranging from Antarctica to the Alaskan Arctic, and Hawaii to the Caribbean. However, most of Fournet's research focuses on the calling behavior of humpback whales in Southeast Alaska. She was a longtime resident of Juneau, Alaska where the Sound Science Research Collective was founded and has spent the over 15 years listening to the voices of Alaska's whales.

About Douglas Barr: Doug is Board Chair of the Educational Non-profit, Saint Helena Forum. He moved to Napa Valley from Los Angeles in 1997. He is a former vintner, actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Doug believes that the Forum is a step toward making Saint Helena a cultural center for the North Bay and an invaluable resource for the people of our community and beyond.

America’s Immigration Divide: How our country’s current polarization is based upon historic regional lines

Historian and Author Colin Woodard in conversation with  Journalist and Author David Freed.  

About Colin Woodard: Colin is a New York Times bestselling historian and Polk Award-winning journalist – is one of the most respected authorities on North American regionalism, the sociology of United States’ Nationhood, and how our colonial past shapes and explains the present. Compelling, dynamic and thought provoking, he offers a fascinating look at where America has come from, how we ended up as we are, and how we might shape our future.

About David Freed: Dave is a screenwriter, novelist and former award-winning investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Times where he shared in a Pulitzer Prize for the newspaper's coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and was an individual finalist for the Pulitzer Prize's Gold Medal for Public Service, the most prestigious award in American journalism. 

About the Saint Helena Forum: Founded in 2019, the Saint Helena Forum for Innovation and Creativity is a grass roots, entirely volunteer organization, funded by donations and grants from our local Napa Valley friends and neighbors. Our mission is to inform, inspire, and entertain every citizen of the region and beyond by providing access to a broad range of humanities-based presentations.

Dr. Engeln is a professor at Northwestern University where she teaches psychopathology, the psychology of women and gender, social psychology, and the psychology of human beauty. Doctor Engeln  directs the “The Body and Media Lab” which conducts research exploring issues surrounding women's body images. She is the author of "Beauty Sick" a book about the cultural obsession with appearance and how it effects girls and women.  Renee's work has appeared in numerous academic journals, and she is regularly interviewed by the New York Times, the Chicago tribune, the Huffington Post, and other national media.​

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Dr. Engeln will be interviewed by Saint Helena Forum Board Member Michele Mitchell. In addition to being a member of the Forum’s board of directors, Michelle is a filmmaker, journalist, and author, best known for her on-camera reporting for PBS and CNN Headline News, and her documentary films: “Haiti: Where did the Money Go? “ which tracked what happened to the money donated by US citizens to US-based charities after the Haiti earthquake  and ”The Un-condemned “, a riveting documentary about an underdog group of lawyers and activists who defied the odds to do what had never been done: prosecute rape as an international war crime.

Today many U.S. museums are facing a reckoning for their aggressive collecting tactics of the past. The Indiana Jones era is over, and there is tremendous pressure on museums to return any works acquired during the days when collecting could be sometimes better described as looting and plundering. Join the Saint Helena forum for a facinating discussion of this topic between two museum professionals Jane Milosch and Peggy Loar.  

A Conversation with Astrobiologist Dr. Nathalie Cabrol.

With more than 300 million exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and up to 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe - to think we are alone or the only advanced intelligent civilization is pretty close to nonsense.

Dr. Nathalie Cabrol is a French American Astrobiologist specializing in planetary science. Cabrol studies ancient lakes on Mars, and undertakes high-altitude scientific expeditions in the Central Andes of Chile as the principal investigator of the  "High Lakes Project"  funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute. There, with her team, she documents life's adaptation to extreme environments, the effect of rapid climate change on lake ecosystems and habitats, its geobiological signatures, and relevance to planetary exploration. Cabrol was appointed in 2015 to head the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe.

Should we mine the oceans for essential minerals to power green technology? 

In our final episode of a three-part series, we explore the fascinating world of international regulations that affect the sea floor. 

Governing approximately half of the total area of the world's oceans, the International Sea Bed Authority is, “to exercise oversight of activities that might threaten biological diversity and harm the marine environment”. 

James McFarland, Executive Vice President of Strategic Robotic Systems and former head of the Office of Resource and Environmental Monitoring at the International Sea Bed Authority, will be our third guest and help us decipher if and how the ISA is managing to fulfill its mandates.