The Perkins Platform

Tune in on Thursday, March 11 @ 12pm EST for another impactful conversation expanding on the data surrounding the increase in teen suicides in the US.  Dr. Crystal L. Barksdale, Chief of the Minority Mental Health Research Program for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), joins us to discuss how NIMH communicates with mental health providers and schools to address this growing issue.  Dr. Barksdale is responsible for providing guidance and expertise related to issues related to minority mental health and mental health disparities. She has also led implementation and evaluation efforts in the private sector related to the National CLAS Standards, provided cultural and linguistic competency training and technical assistance to health and health care organizations, and managed cultural and linguistic competency program development and evaluation efforts. She has worked on research projects exploring racial/ethnic disparities and disproportionality in child-serving systems, and that identified culturally appropriate mental health interventions for at-risk youth and their families. Dr. Barksdale, a licensed clinical psychologist and educator, received her doctorate in clinical psychology from George Washington University, her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Join us on Wednesday, March 3 @ 12pm EST for an important conversation on millennial teacher and leader retention with special guest, Kami Lewis Levin.  Kami is an adult learning, education leadership and curriculum design consultant. Since 2011, she has served in district-level leadership positions supporting urban schools at New Visions for Public Schools, New Leaders, the Public Preparatory Network and Gradient Learning. She received her BA in American History and Dance from Barnard College, her MA from NYU in Secondary Social Studies Education and her Ed.D. from Teachers College in Adult Learning and Leadership. Kami is an accomplished instructional leader who is deeply invested in social emotional learning. She believes that adult learning drives equity, positive school culture and high student achievement.

Why have suicide rates increased among teens in U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic? Licensed psychologist, Dr. Sandra M. Chafouleas, joins us for a discussion and to share her thoughts on the mental health struggle of teenagers in schools.  Dr Chafouleas works as a Distinguished Professor in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. She directs the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH), and authors a Psychology Today blog on promoting student well-being. Her work focuses on assisting schools in implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices that support the whole child, with specific expertise in strategies to strengthen mental health and emotional well-being. Prior to becoming a university trainer, Dr. Chafouleas worked as a school psychologist and administrator in a variety of settings supporting the needs of children with behavior disorders.  Join us for this informative conversation on Wednesday, February 17 @ 12pm EST!

Trained in meditation, yoga, philosophy and natural health sciences in Australia, the Philippines and India,  Dada Gunamuktananda joins us for a special discussion on exploring meditation and consciousness.  Dada is a qualified meditation teacher of Ananda Marga and has taught all over the world in Australia, Asia, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and North America. Since 2015, he has also been the founding coordinator of the P.R. Sarkar Institute, a central resource library and forum for the research, development and distribution of P.R. Sarkar’s teachings.  Some of the events Dada has presented at include the Brisbane YogaFest, Woodford Folk Festival, Starlight Festival, TEDxNoosa, Dragon Dreaming, Adelaide Vegan Festival, Whole Life Expo, Bliss Festival, Body Mind Spirit, Gratitude Migration, the Annual International Medical Students (AIMS) meeting, and the online Planetary Leadership Training course.  Tune in on Wednesday, February 10 @ 7pm EST!

Join us on Tuesday, February 2 @ 5pm EST to hear the incredible story of special guest, Aaron Stark.  Aaron is a motivational speaker and outspoken advocate for mental health awareness.  His experience in public school and adolescence led him to a place of darkness, only to be saved by a simple act of kindness.  His Tedx Talk "I Was Almost a School Shooter" has over 12.1 million views, and he has been featured in the Washington Post along with MSNBC, ABC, Fox, and numerous other news programs.  He also runs the Facebook group YouAreNotAlone.  A proud husband and father of 4, he says that "being a dad is my favorite part of life." Tune in for this powerful conversation!

Join us on Thursday, January 28 @ 5pm EST for an exciting and insightful conversation with Dr. Paula Stone Williams.  Dr. Williams is an internationally known speaker on gender equity, LGBTQ advocacy, and religious tolerance.  She is also a Pastor at Left Hand Church and Pastoral Counselor in Boulder County, Colorado. She has been featured in the New York Times, TEDWomen, TEDSummit, TEDxMileHigh, Red Table Talk, the Denver Post, The New York Post, New Scientist Magazine, Radio New Zealand, and many other media outlets.  Her TED talks, including I lived as both a man and woman & here’s what I learned, have over six million views. Tune in to hear her experiences and words of wisdom!

Tune in on Tuesday, January 19th @ 7pm EST for an informative talk with Dr. Selena Bartlett discussing her work on Neuroplasticity and brain health. Dr. Bartlett is a Group Leader in addiction-neuroscience and obesity at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation as well as a Professor of Neuroscience at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. CEO and Founder of MiGFiT Inc, she and her research lab focus on retraining mindset for emotional eating fitness, which is the biggest problem in diets that fail. She won the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Biotech Research Award and was an Ambassador for the Women in Technology organization.  She presented a TEDx talk about the brain fitness and neuroplasticity revolution underway and the brain vitality index mobile app. Her passion is to raise awareness of the importance of brain fitness to health and vitality.

Who should receive the COVID-19 vaccination first?  Using game theory, the mathematical way of modeling how people make strategic decisions within a group, two renowned researchers model different ways of prioritizing vaccinations to see which path saves more lives. Join us on Wednesday, January 13 @ 2pm EST/ 11am PST to hear from special guests, Dr. Madhur Anand, ecologist and poet, and her husband, Dr. Chris Bauch, mathematical biologist.

Dr. Madhur Anand is a professor of ecology and sustainability at The University of Guelph, Ontario, where she was appointed director of the Guelph Institute for Environmental Research. Internationally recognized ecologist with research interests in modelling human-environment systems, she has collaborated with mathematicians, theoretical physicists, statisticians, computer scientists and poets on aspects of human health, and sustainability.  She is also an accomplished poet and writer, serving on several international journal editorial boards and grant selection panels. 

Dr. Chris Bauch is a professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research program applies mathematics to real-world problems in infectious diseases, ecology, social science, and sustainability.  He has developed mathematical models of the transmission of infectious diseases such as measles, smallpox, influenza, human papillomavirus, SARS and COVID-19.  His particular focus is on how disease spread responds to aspects of population behaviour such as physical distancing, mask use, and vaccines.  His research partners have included the WHO, the United States FDA, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Join us for a lunchtime conversation on what will be an enlightening conversation on the virus, the vaccine and the pandemic.  Dr. Shannon T. Bailey, earned his PhD from Yale School of Medicine in Cellular and Molecular Biology and is a world-renown medical scientist in his field.  Dr. Bailey will engage with Dr. Perkins to debunk many of the common myths held about the current pandemic and shed some light on information that will be immediately useful to leaders in communities and organizations.  The goal of this broadcast is to serve as a useful source of factual scientific information.  Our hope is that the information will be shared in ways that the typical non-scientist can understand and share.

Join us for an informative conversation about outsmarting unconscious bias. This broadcast welcomes renowned expert on happiness and inclusion, Valerie Alexander.  She is a globally-recognized speaker on the topics of happiness in the workplace, the advancement of women, and unconscious bias.  Her TED Talk, How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias has been viewed over 260,000 times, and she has spoken at hundreds of conferences, colleges and companies, including Coca Cola, GE Capital, NASA, Tillamook and several top Real Estate industry events.  Valerie started her career as a corporate securities lawyer, investment banker and Internet executive in the Silicon Valley, then transitioned to Hollywood, where she enjoyed success as a screenwriter and director.  She also writes Christmas movies for the Hallmark Channel in addition to traveling the world as a keynote speaker!