Samuel H. Barondes, M.D.
Jeanne and Sanford Robertson Professor of Neurobiology and Psychiatry, University of California at San Fransisco
Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco

Samuel H. Barondes is the Jeanne and Sanford Robertson Professor Neurobiology and Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco. He recently served as President of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience and as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health. He is also a member of several national and international advisory boards and editorial boards. He writes books about biological psychiatry accessible to lay audiences on topics such as psychiatric genetics, psychopharmacology, and the psychiatric implications of biological research. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Molecules and Mental Illness, Mood Genes, and most recently, Better Than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs.

Michael S. Gazzaniga, Ph.D.
David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College;
Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College;
Dean of the Faculty, Dartmouth College;
Member, President’s Council on Bioethics

Michael Gazzaniga is the David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, where he also serves as Dean of the Faculty. He did his graduate work in psychobiology under the guidance of Roger Sperry, with primary responsibility for initiating human split-brain research. He subsequently made remarkable advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another. His many scholarly publications include the landmark 1995 book for MIT Press, The Cognitive Neurosciences, now in its third edition, which is recognized as the sourcebook for the field. He is much sought-after as an advisor to various institutes involved in brain research, and is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics.

John R. Perry, Ph.D.
Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University;
Director, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University;

John R. Perry is the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. He is past Vice-President and President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. Professor Perry is the author of numerous articles and books. His most recent works include Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness; Reference and Reflexivity; and Identity, Personal Identity, and the Self.

Carol Rovane, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy , Columbia University; Director of Graduate Studies

Carol Rovane is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Studies at Columbia University. She was previously a faculty member at Yale University. She is the author of The Bounds of Agency: An essay in Revisionary Metaphysics and numerous articles addressing a wide array of topics including skepticism, transcendental arguments, self-consciousness, first person reference, Descartes, the mind-body problem, rationality, interpretation, genetics, and multiple personality disorder. Her current research interests include issue of trust, moral luck, relativism, and consciousness.

Marya Schechtman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago

Marya Schechtman is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she is a member of the Laboratory of Integrated Neuroscience. She focuses on the topics of personal identity, autonomy, practical reason, existentialism, and the philosophy of the mind and of psychology. She is author of The Constitution of Selves and several articles concerning topics such as personal identity and the philosophy of the mind. She is currently working on a project to investigate the relations between the sense of “identity” at stake in metaphysical discussions of personal identity and in the work of value theorists.