The Brain Surgeon's Take

Michael McFaul is a leading expert on Russia, American foreign policy, and democratic development around the world. A former U.S. ambassador to Russia, McFaul is currently a professor of political science at Stanford University, the director of Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.He is also an analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post. McFaul served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House, and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation.

He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller, “From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.”  His current research interests include American foreign policy, great power relations between China, Russia, and the United States, and the relationship between democracy and development. As background, he received his BA and MA from Stanford and D. Phil from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

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Rachel Yehuda is Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and the Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research. She is also Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Yehuda is a recognized leader in the field of traumatic stress studies. She has authored more than 450 published papers, chapters, and books in the field of traumatic stress and the neurobiology of PTSD.  Her current interests include the study of risk and resilience factors, psychological and biological predictors of treatment response in PTSD, genetic and epigenetic studies of PTSD, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma and PTSD. She has an active federally-funded clinical and research program.

Dr. Yehuda's research on cortisol and brain function has revolutionized the understanding and treatment of PTSD worldwide and has been awarded the renowned Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry Guest Professorship. Dr. Yehuda has also been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Yehuda received her PhD from UMass Amherst and completed her postdoctoral training Yale University.

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Kenny Broad has participated in extreme scientific and filmmaking expeditions on every continent to gather information and samples that shed light on little-known environmental and cultural subjects. Broad and the late Wes Skiles received the National Geographic Explorer of the Year award in 2011. He regularly collaborates with ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists, psychologists, and a range of other strange ‘-ologists’ and has published dozens of scientific articles on topics ranging from risk perception to venomous snakes to natural resource management. Broad is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain, a commercial helicopter pilot, and he holds multiple diving ratings. He is currently a Professor at the University of Miami where he directs the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. He is also co-director of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1999. Broad was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009 and was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2006.

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Deepak is founder of The Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global, as well as Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at UCSD and senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is author of over 90 books translated into 43 languages, including New York Times bestsellers. Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation and personal transformation revolution. TIME magazine has described him as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” Larry King has described his work as “some of the most important of the decade.” The Wall Street Journal has declared his books “must reads for your career”.

His books have been awarded the prestigious Nautilus Award and Quill Award. Two of his books have been recognized on “The Books of The Century Bestsellers List”. He is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and contributes to Oprah.com, Intent.com, and Huffington Post. He has been recognized as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness “, the #17 “most influential thinker in the world” and #1 in Medicine. As background, Dr. Chopra is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Metabolism.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

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Rich Diviney is a retired Navy SEAL commander, with a career spanning more than twenty years and more than thirteen completed overseas deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. As the officer in charge of training a specialized command with tremendous credibility as a leader of people, Diviney spearheaded the creation of a directorate that fused physical, mental, and emotional disciplines. He led his small team to create the first ever “Mind Gym” that helped special operators train their brains to perform faster, longer, and better in all environments—especially high-stress ones. Rich is motivated by the idea of discovery, allowing others to realize their potential and witnessing them accelerate towards it. Since retirement in early 2017, Rich has worked as a speaker, facilitator, and consultant with the Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute and Simon Sinek Inc.

He is the author of a bestselling book - THE ATTRIBUTES - 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance, where he breaks down the real reasons why people and high performing teams and/or organizations succeed in times of stress, challenge, and uncertainty.

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Emma Gullstrand is an internationally recognized diving champion. She is from Sweden originally and currently an undergraduate student at The University of Miami. She has competed in the World Aquatics Championships as well as the European Diving Championships. In 2021 she was selected to participate in the Tokyo Olympics representing her home country of Sweden. She competes in 10m platform, 1m springboard, 3m springboard, jump event, mixed synchronized diving 3m, synchronized diving 3m and team event.

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Dr. Kirtman is internationally known for using complex computer models to bring unprecedented detail to climate change measurement. He uses atmosphere-ocean general circulation models to study the predictability and variability of the earth’s climate system. His wide-ranging research aims to understand and quantify the limits of climate predictability from days to decades. Professor Kirtman serves as an advisor to the United Nations, has enjoyed a leadership role in the World Climate Research Program, and has chaired the international Working Group on Seasonal Interannual Prediction.

He has received numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and the Office of Naval Research. He also leads the North American Multi-Model Ensemble Prediction Experiment. Professor Kirtman is the author of over 130 peer reviewed papers focused on understanding and predicting climate variability on time scales from days to decades.

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Dr. Maria Alcaide is Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami and Director of Infectious Diseases Research. She is a renowned expert in vaccine development and has taken center stage in light of the COVID pandemic and race for a vaccine, being interviewed on local, regional, and national news. She is currently leading UM as the main site for the Moderna vaccine clinical trial, one of the most promising potential vaccines to date.

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As Director of the Miami Transplant Institute, chief of liver, intestinal, and multivisceral transplant, and Professor of Surgery at The University of Miami, Dr. Vianna is an internationally recognized pioneer and global leader in transplant surgery. Dr. Vianna completed his surgical training and PhD in Brazil, before doing two transplant fellowships at The University of Miami. Author of nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, Dr. Vianna was inducted into Brazil’s National Academy of Medicine, one of the oldest and most exclusive medical academies in the world.

The Miami Transplant Institute is a unique affiliation between Jackson Health System and The University of Miami. Over its 51 year history, the Miami Transplant Institute has become the largest and most comprehensive transplant program in the United States. It remains the only center in Florida that provides every kind of solid-organ transplant and is consistently breaking new barriers in areas like multi-organ transplant and paired donations.

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