The NIMH Director’s Innovation Speaker Series
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is pleased to invite you to attend a series of lectures dedicated to innovation, invention, and scientific discovery. NIMH established the Director’s Innovation Speaker Series to encourage broad, interdisciplinary thinking in the development of scientific initiatives and programs, and to press for theoretical leaps in science over the continuation of incremental thought. Innovation speakers are encouraged to describe their work from the perspective of breaking through existing boundaries and developing successful new ideas, as well as working outside their primary area of expertise in ways that have pushed their fields forward. We encourage discussions of the meaning of innovation, creativity, breakthroughs, and paradigm-shifting.
Submit general questions to the NIMH Director’s Innovation Speaker Series mailbox.
Speaker Schedule 2023-2024
![Dr. Anna Wexler headshot](/sites/default/files/images/wexlerheadshot.jpg)
Anna Wexler, Ph.D.
Date: June 25, 2024, 2:00–3:00 p.m. ET • Hybrid
![Portrait of Daniel E. Dawes, J.D.](/sites/default/files/images/Daniel-Dawes.png)
Daniel E. Dawes, J.D.
Date: February 20, 2024, 2:00–3:00 p.m. ET • Virtual
![Portrait of Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/images/Dr_Julianne_Holt-Lungstad_headshot.jpg)
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Social Connection: An eye to the past, present, and future
Date: October 26, 2023, 2:00-3:00 PM ET • Hybrid
Speaker Schedule 2022-2023
![Headshot of Mary Woolley](/sites/default/files/images/Woolley%2C-Mary---Headshot.jpg)
Mary Woolley
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Your Role in Winning Hearts and Minds for Research
Date: June 22, 2023, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Dr. Sharon Walsh headshot](/sites/default/files/images/news/events/SharonWalsh.png)
Sharon L. Walsh, Ph.D.
Date: February 14, 2023, 2:00-3:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo](/sites/default/files/images/Ashlee-Cunsolo.png)
Ashlee Cunsolo, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Ecological Grief and Anxiety: A Healthy Response to Climate Change
Date: January 19, 2023, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Leticia Márquez-Magaña, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/images/M%C3%A1rquez-Maga%C3%B1a.png)
Leticia Márquez-Magaña, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Transformative Research Requires Insider Researchers
Date: December 8, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Serena Spudich, M.D., M.A.](/sites/default/files/images/Spudich.png)
Serena Spudich, M.D., M.A.
Date: November 9, 2022, 2:00-3:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Joshua Denny, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.M.I.](/sites/default/files/images/Denny_Josh.png)
Joshua Denny, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.M.I.
Date: October 27, 2022, 2:00-3:00 PM ET via Zoom
Ken Duckworth, M.D.
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: NAMI and NIMH: Then, Now, and the Future
Date: September 15, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
Speaker Schedule 2021-2022
Helen A. Neville, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Implementing Radical Healing Strategies to Promote Health Equity
Date: May 3, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Sylvester James Gates, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/images/Sylvester-James-Gates177.png)
Sylvester James Gates, Ph.D.
Date: April 26, 2022, 12:00-1:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Portrait of Foluso Agboola, MBBS, MPH](/sites/default/files/images/Foluso-Agboola177.png)
Foluso Agboola, MBBS, MPH
Talk Title: Director’s Innovation Speaker Series: Beyond FDA Approval: Assessing the Value of New Health Technologies
Date: March 8, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Otis Webb Brawley, M.D.](/sites/default/files/images/news/events/Otis_Brawley_1.jpg)
Otis Webb Brawley, M.D.
Talk Title: Cancer Control in the 21st Century with an Emphasis on Risk Reduction
Date: February 22, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Cynthia Rogers, M.D.](/sites/default/files/images/news/events/cynthia_rogers.jpg)
Cynthia Rogers, M.D.
Talk Title: Addressing Social Determinants to Optimize Infant Brain Development
Date: January 18, 2022, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Headshot of Nii Addy, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/images/Nii_Addy_ISS.jpg)
Nii Addy, Ph.D.
Date: December 9, 2021, 3:00-4:00 PM ET via Zoom
![Picture of Glorinda Segay D.B.H.](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/Glorinda_Segay_177x200.png)
Glorinda Segay, D.B.H.
Talk Title: Life Through a Navajo Lens Beyond the Navajo Reservation
Date: October 12, 2021 - 3:00-4:00 PM via Zoom
![A portrait headshot of Damien Fair PA-C, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/D_Fair_Headshot_177x218.jpg)
Damien Fair PA-C, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in the Era of Big Data
Date: September 9, 2021 - 3:00-4:00 PM via Zoom
Speaker Schedule 2020-2021
![Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/roberto_lewis-fernandez_md.jpg)
Roberto Lewis-Fernández, M.D.
Talk Title: Addressing Ethnoracial Disparities in Mental Health Risk, Assessment, and Service Delivery
Date: June 22, 2021 - 3:00-4:00 PM via Zoom
![Elise Robinson, Sc.D.](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/Elise-Robinson-2.jpg)
Elise Robinson, Sc.D.
Talk Title: Genetic Clues to Autism Heterogeneity
Date: May 13, 2021 - 3:00-4:00 PM via Zoom
![Beverly Davison, PhD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/davidson_beverly_6_177x218.jpg)
Beverly Davidson, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Advancing Therapies for Central Nervous System
Date: April 15, 2021 - 3:00-4:00 PM via Zoom
![Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/mona_hanna_attisha1.jpg)
Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP
Talk Title: What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
Date: March 18, 2021 - 3:00 PM via Zoom
![Martin Paulus, MD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/martin_paulus1.jpg)
Martin Paulus, M.D.
Talk Title: Decision-Making and Computational Psychiatry: An Explanatory and Pragmatic Perspective
Date: November 12, 2020 - 3:00 PM via Zoom
![Barak Richman, PhD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/barak_richman1.jpg)
Barak Richman, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Pursuing an Innovation Agenda: A New Healthcare Architecture
Date: December 15, 2020 - 3:00 PM via Zoom
![Michael Ungar, PhD](/sites/default/files/images/news-items/innovation-speakers/michael_ungar1.jpg)
Michael Ungar, Ph.D.
Talk Title: Diagnosing Resilience: A Multisystemic Model for Positive Development in Stressed Environments
Date: January 14, 2021 via Zoom