The 9th annual Meeting of the Minds symposium was held at the Charles B. Wang Center Theater at Stony Brook University on October 19, 2018. The topic was the Opioid Epidemic. The keynote speaker was Bertha Madras, PhD, a psychobiologist in the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Division of Basic Neuroscience at McLean Hospital, and Director of the Laboratory Addiction. A Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School based at McLean Hospital and cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Madras' research focuses on neurobiology, imaging and medications development (19 US and 27 international patents) for neuropsychiatric disorders. In public policy, Dr. Madras was Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a presidential appointment confirmed unanimously by the US Sentate. Dr. Madras also served as a panelist at the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences and in 2017, was appointed as one of six members of the Presidents’ Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Dr. Madras spoke about how science informs policy with regard to opioids and opioid use disorder.
- 2018 Meeting of the Minds Agenda
- 2018 Meeting of the Minds Speaker Bios
- 2018 Meeting of the Minds Flyer