Divya Chander
Dr. Chander is a physician, neuroscientist, and futurist who trained at Harvard, UCSF, UCSD, and the Salk Institute. She is currently the Chair of Neuroscience and Faculty of Medicine at Singularity University. She is also a Visiting Scholar in the Stanford Department of Medicine, and was on the Stanford School of Medicine Faculty for 8 years. Her postdoctoral training at Stanford allowed her to use light-activated ion channels inserted in DNA to study sleep and consciousness switches in brains. In the operating room, she applies EEG technology to understand what human brains look like when they lose and regain consciousness, and has a precision medicine initiative at Stanford aimed at understanding genetic variability in responses to anesthetic drugs. Her goal is to understand neural mechanisms of consciousness, as well as the evolution of human consciousness secondary to human augmentation.
Read MoreShe is working on devices that read the brain in order to screen for neural disease and perform drug and biomarker discovery. Her work in brain mapping and algorithms may enable writing to the brain or interfacing it to machines as well. Finally, her expertise crosses into studies of human longevity. There is no extended human lifespan without the preservation of the brain and mind. How do technologies like brain machine interfaces, human augmentation and cryonics affect the future of human consciousness?
Dr. Chander also contributes to space life sciences and medicine. A finalist for astronaut selection and an alumnus of the International Space University, Dr. Chander has performed remote simulations of trauma rescues, anesthesia and surgery in Mars analogue settings with physicians in the US, France, and the Concordia base in Antarctica. She has also been involved with a consortium that elaborated a road-map for studying the effect of microgravity and radiation on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, cognition and sleep.
Read LessTopics
Medicine and Neuroscience
Ongoing advancements in the world of neuroscience research are revealing things about how the human mind works that could never have been imagined. Advancements by large companies and small academic group and everything in between will be discussed in this mind-blowing session on the brain.
Bioethics
Divya explores the dark side and ethical considerations of the new era of technology (can be workshopped to smaller groups) – includes gene editing, interfacing humans with machines, hacking implants, ethical AI, etc.
Longevity and Human Augmentation
What science tells us about living longer, the science fiction of what we are doing to get there, how this will affect the psychology and future of the human species, how this will change the landscape of new opportunities in all verticals.
How Hacking the Neural Code has Brought us Closer to Bionic Brains
Neuroscience is on the cutting edge of decoding brains, making it possible like never before to peer into brains and hijack their circuitry. Divya will explore how old and new technologies make it possible to read visions and dreams, hack thoughts, and plant false memories. We also look at how modern medicine and science make it possible to restore and enhance function to people who are paralyzed, opening the door to digital and robotic control with the human mind.
Neuroscience
Divya provides a comprehensive overview of what is in the lab today and what is coming to market in the next 2 to 10 years. The presentation will concentrate on break through developments ranging from 3d printing to organ regeneration, from point-of-care lab-on-a-chip diagnostics to large-scale bioinformatics; from synthetic biology to new gene based therapies. All of these and more are discussed in the context of current explosions of digital information and distributed healthcare.
Rewiring Humans from the Inside Out
Medicine and neuroscience are being transformed by exponential technologies that make it possible to now rewire human beings from the inside out. Technologies that come from other spaces such as nanotechnology, stem cells, 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality are pushing medicine into the realm of science fiction. Divya will explore new diagnostics, therapies, and how gene editing technologies may allow us to not only cure human disease, but rewrite the code of life.
Articles
Vice
This Is What Happens To Your Brain During Anesthesia »
Dave Asprey
Consciousness, Drugs, & Brain Upgrades: Anesthesiologiest Neuroscientist Divya Chander »
Surgical Perspective
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Surgical Robotics »
Plos One
Nonlinear dynamics captures brain states at different levels of consciousness in patients anesthetized with propofol »
Scientific American Psychology
Scientific American, 3rd Edition, Chapter 5: Consciousness »
Psychology Today
Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neuroscience »
Singlularity Hub
Hacking the Mind Just Got Easier With These New Tools »
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