7 Young Global Leaders To Shape the Behavioral and Brain Health Agenda

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --SharpBrains, the leading market research firm tracking brain health innovation, announced that seven  of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders have joined the Steering Group to help shape the agenda for the upcoming SharpBrains Virtual Summit. They will co-chair groundbreaking sessions at the frontier of brain health, well-being and applied neuroscience.

The 2013 SharpBrains Virtual Summit, set for September 19-20^th, 2013, will feature nearly 40 of the world's top scientists and innovators addressing the central theme of "How Neuroscience-based Innovation Can Enhance Behavioral and Brain Health." The two-day virtual summit will include eight to ten panel discussions chaired by some of the world's most accomplished and inspiring young leaders under the age of 40, as recognized by the World Economic Forum. Registration for the event is now open at http://sharpbrains.com/summit-2013/

The 7 Young Global Leaders (YGLs) to join the Summit's Steering Group are, in alphabetical order:

• Alvaro Fernandez, CEO of SharpBrains (YGL Class of 2012);
• Andrew Lee, VP of Emerging Business at Aetna (YGL Class of 2011);
• Corinna Lathan, CEO of AnthroTronix (YGL Class of 2006);
• Hilal Lashuel, Visiting Associate Professor at Stanford University (YGL Class of 2012);
• Jayne Plunkett, Head of Casualty Reinsurance at Swiss Re (YGL Class of 2010);
• Olivier Oullier, Pro­fes­sor of Behav­ioral and Brain Sci­ences at France's Aix-Marseille University (YGL Class of 2011); and
• Tan Le, CEO of Emotiv Lifesciences (YGL Class of 2009).

"Newly-announced research initiatives in the US and Europe are shining a much-needed light on the critical importance of brain science and innovation," said Fernandez. "The truth is, we don't have 20 years to wait for the healthcare, psychology and medical communities to catch up to the existing research and societal needs—we need real solutions now. This annual summit is designed to highlight the most practical ways to apply what we already know today and to build solid platforms to translate emerging findings into measurable, real-world benefits."

The annual Sharp­Brains Sum­mit is the foremost virtual global conference designed to high­light and dis­cuss emerg­ing neu­ro­plas­tic­ity research, data-driven tools and inno­v­a­tive best prac­tices to opti­mize health and per­for­mance across the lifespan. The Summit has earned multiple endorsements from science and industry pioneers, including:

• Dr. Robert Bilder, Chief of Med­ical Psychology-Neuropsychology at the UCLA Semel Insti­tute for Neuroscience , who called the event "an impres­sive vir­tual con­vo­ca­tion of lead­ing sci­en­tists and devel­op­ers and adopters of cog­ni­tive enhance­ment tech­nol­ogy." 

• Dr. Adam Gaz­za­ley, Direc­tor of the Neu­ro­science Imag­ing Cen­ter at UCSF who said, "The Sharp­Brains Sum­mit is unique in its impres­sive abil­ity to unite a diverse col­lec­tion of cutting-edge thinkers."

• Dr. Keith Wesnes, Prac­tice Leader at Bracket/United BioSource Corporation, who proclaimed the Summit to be "a very time-efficient man­ner to get a state-of-the-art update on the lat­est inno­va­tions in assess­ing and pro­mot­ing brain health, and from the com­fort of your own office." 

• Dr. Evian Gor­don, Exec­u­tive Chair­man of Brain Resource, who declared the Summit "a sem­i­nal event, full of won­der­ful insights and remark­able ini­tia­tives, at a time when the brain is going main­stream." 

To learn more about the Summit and the agenda as it is comes together, visit http://sharpbrains.com/summit-2013/. For more information about the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders program, visit http://www.weforum.org/community/forum-young-global-leaders.

About SharpBrains: 

Sharp­Brains is an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm and think tank tracking health and productivity applications of cognitive and affective neu­ro­science, with special emphasis on non-invasive neurotechnology and the growing needs of an aging population.

The company maintains a biannual state-of-the market report series, produces an annual global and virtual professional conference, and maintains a consumer-facing guide, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. SharpBrains.com, the company's edu­ca­tional blog, is one of the most pop­u­lar brain & innovation blogs with 100,000+ monthly read­ers and 45,000+ eNewsletter subscribers. To learn more about SharpBrains' work, visit www.sharpbrains.com.

SOURCE SharpBrains