Associate Professor of Neurology
Dr. Aguirre has developed image analysis methods used in neuroscience labs around the world. His interest in the design, analysis and interpretation of brain imaging studies has recently led him to focus on the ways in which neuroimaging is used, and misused, in a variety of different societal contexts, including legal settings.
Representative Publication: Aguirre, G. (2008). The political brain. Cerebrum. Published online on September 12, 2008
Featured Video: What Lurks Behind the Brain Image: Differentiating Neuroscience from Neuro-Bunk
Professor of Neurology
Dr. Chatterjee is a cognitive neurologist whose work encompasses the societal and ethical implications of brain enhancement, the role of physicians as healers versus lifestyle enhancers and the new field of neuroaesthics.
Representative Publication: Nadal, M., & Chatterjee, A. (2019). Neuroaesthetics and art’s diversity and universality. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 10(3), e1487.
Featured Video: Neuroethics – Are Better Brains Better?
Samuel H. Preston Term Professor in the Social Sciences and Chair of the Department of Psychology
Dr. DeRubeis’ research focuses on depression, its treatment and the scientific and social issues surrounding choices between medication and cognitive therapy.
Representative Publication: DeRubeis, R. J., Siegle G. J., & Hollon, S. D. (2008). Cognitive therapy versus medication for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 788-796.
Featured Video: Medication of Sadness
Professor, Annenberg School for Communication
Dr. Falk uses the concepts and methods of neuroscience, psychology and communication science to understand how we are affected by media. She is particularly concerned with communication aimed at changing health behavior and the potential of functional brain imaging to better predict behavior and behavior change in response to health campaigns.
Representative publication: Berkman, E.T., & Falk, E.B. (2013). Beyond brain mapping: Using the brain to predict real-world outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22(1), 45-50.
Featured Video: Brain waves and how people behave
Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences
Dr. Farah is interested in a variety of social, legal and ethical issues raised by progress in neuroscience, as well as the effects of childhood socioeconomic status on brain development and life trajectories.
Representative Publication: Farah, M. J. (2018). Socioeconomic status and the brain: Prospects for neuroscience-informed policy. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(7), 428.
Featured Video: Living in a Neurosociety: A Neuroethics Overview
Professor Emeritus and Associate Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering
Dr. Foster is a professor of bioengineering whose varied interests include the social and ethical impact of neurotechnologies, including neural prostheses and brain imaging. He also teaches the “Ethics for Engineers” course at Penn.
Representative Publication: Foster, K.R. (2006). Engineering the brain. In Illes, J (Ed.), Neuroethics: Defining the issues in theory, practice and policy (185-200). New York: Oxford University Press.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Goodwin studies the psychology of moral reasoning, including the ways in which people think about, and judge the morality of, brain enhancements. His current research focuses on why people resist neuro-enhancement technologies that improve psychological functioning, and focuses particularly on people’s conceptions of the self and the causal assumptions they make regarding their behavior.
Representative Publication: Riis, J., Simmons, J.P. , & Goodwin, G.P. (2008). Preferences for psychological enhancements: The reluctance to enhance fundamental traits. Journal of Consumer Research 5, 495–508.
Associate Professor of Neurology
As the director of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation at Penn, Dr. Hamilton studies neural plasticity and recovery of function in neurological patients using magnetic and electrical brain stimulation techniques, and also investigates the effects of brain stimulation in normal healthy individuals. He is also strongly committed to enhancing the education and advancement of underserved and underrepresented groups in neurology, neuroscience, and medicine, and directs a variety of initiatives serving the needs of these populations.
Representative Publication: Cabrera, L. Y., Evans, E. L., & Hamilton, R. H. (2014). Ethics of the electrified mind: defining issues and perspectives on the principled use of brain stimulation in medical research and clinical care. Brain topography, 27(1), 33-45.
Professor and Chair, Neurology Department
Dr. Jensen is the Chair of The Neurology Department and well known for her work explicating adolescent behavior to the public in terms of brain development. Her main research focus is on developing new age-specific therapies for epilepsy and its comorbidities. Her lab specifically focuses on forms of epilepsy that affect the infant and early childhood brain.
Representative Publication: Jensen, F.E., Nutt, A.E. (2015) The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults. HarperCollins Publishers.
Featured Video: The Teenage Brain
Professor of Psychology
Dr. Kable studies the neuroscience of decision-making, with special attention to the brain differences that underlie different styles and abilities for decision-making and the neural representation of value.
Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics
Dr. Karlawish’s research concerns the ethical, legal and social issues that arise in the lives of persons with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor of Psychiatry at the Veteran’s Administration Medical CenterDr. Langleben studies the neural correlates of deception, drug craving, and the effects of advertising, as well as the social and ethical issues raised by our growing ability to image these processes.
Representative Publication: Langleben, D. D., & Moriarty, J. C. (2013). Using brain imaging for lie detection: Where science, law, and policy collide. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 19(2), 222.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Mackey is using neuroscience as means to understanding and reducing the socioeconomic achievement gap. Her lab studies the mechanisms by which environmental factors tip the balance between plasticity/vulnerability and stability/protection to shorten or shift windows of peak plasticity.
Representative Publication: Mackey, A. P., Finn, A. S., Leonard, J. A., Jacoby-Senghor, D. S., West, M. R., Gabrieli, C. F., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2015). Neuroanatomical correlates of the income-achievement gap. Psychological science, 26(6), 925-933.
David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and Professor of Biomedical Ethics and History and Sociology of Science
Dr. Moreno’s current interests include the role of neuroscience in the military and ethical issues concerning human-animal neural stem cell chimera.
Representative Publication: Tennison, M. N., & Moreno, J. D. (2012). Neuroscience, ethics, and national security: the state of the art. PLoS Biol, 10(3), e1001289.
Featured Video: The Brain and National Defense: A Neuroethics History
Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law; Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry
Dr. Morse works on problems of legal and moral responsibility and their compatibility with the materialist worldview of neuroscience. He is interested in the roles of neuroscience and behavioral science in explaining and excusing antisocial and criminal behavior.
Representative Publication: Morse, S.J. (2006). Brain overclaim syndrome and criminal responsibility: A diagnostic note. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 3, 397.
Featured Video: The Brain and the Person: Does Neuroscience Challenge Personal Moral Agency?
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Dr. Nave applies the methods of neuroscience, genetics and economics to the understanding of human decision-making and behavior, including big data approaches to cognitive ability and substance use.
Representative Publication: A Menon, G Nave, S Bhatia (2019). Emotional expressions predict risky decisions by S&P 500 executives.
of Marketing, Psychology, and Neuroscience
Dr. Platt studies the neural bases of social and economic behavior, with the aim of understanding how and why we behave as we do in social contexts. His research encompasses behavioral and imaging studies of humans and behavioral, neuroendocrine and single cell recording studies of lab and free ranging monkeys.
Representative Publication: Tremblay, S., Sharika, K. M., & Platt, M. L. (2017). Social Decision-Making and the Brain: A Comparative Perspective. Trends in Cognitive Science,
Featured Video: How We Decide: The New Science of Neuroeconomics
Richard Perry University Professor; Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology
Dr. Raine studies the biological bases of antisocial and violent behavior, including the neural bases of violent aggression and the role of neuroscience in understanding and treating such behavior in criminal offenders.
Representative Publication: Glenn, A. L., & Raine, A. (2014). Neurocriminology: implications for the punishment, prediction and prevention of criminal behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(1), 54-63.
Featured Video: The Criminal Brain: How, Could and Should We Change It?
James T. Riady Professor, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics
Dr. Robertson’s research focuses on the field of business ethics. One stream of inquiry is neuroscience research on the cognitive processes underlying ethical decision-making.
Representative Publication: Robertson, D., Snarey, J., Ousley, O., Harenski, K,. DuBois Bowman, F., Gilkey, R & Kilts, C. (2007). The neural processing of moral sensitivity to issues of justice and care. Neuropsychologia, 45, 755-766.
Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy
Center; Director, Adolescent Communication Institute
Dr. Romer uses a variety of methods, from big data to neurocognitive assessments, to understand adolescent risk behavior. As Research Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Director of its Adolescent Communication Institute, he has studied adolescent development in terms of social, psychological and neural processes, in contexts from home and school to the broadcast media and the internet.
Representative Publication: Romer, D. (2010). Adolescent risk taking, impulsivity, and brain development: Implications for prevention. Developmental Psychobiology, 52 (3), 263-276.
Professor of Psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Rostain’s clinical and research work is focused on developmental neuropsychiatry, especially ADHD and Asperger’s syndrome. He also directs the Office of Education for the Department of Psychiatry at Penn. Dr. Rostain has been active in addressing the growing trend toward nonmedical use of stimulants for cognitive enhancement, particularly among college students.
Representative Publication: Rostain, A.L. (2006). Addressing the misuse and abuse of stimulant medications on college campuses. Current Psychiatry Report, 8, 335-336.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Susan E. Rushing is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry where she also conducts research on neuro-imaging. She is the course director for forensic psychiatry in Penn’s Psychiatry Residency program and lectures at Penn on topics in psychiatry and law, including medical decision-making capacity, laws regarding legally authorized representatives for incapacitated patients, doctor-patient relationships and confidentiality, the use of neuro-imaging data in court, medical ethics, and expert testimony.
Representative Publication: Rushing, S. E. (2014). Admissibility of Brain Scans in Criminal Trials: The Case of Positron Emission Tomography, The. Ct. Rev., 50, 62.
Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics
Dr. Strohminger is a psychologist and ethicist who addresses questions of morality and its relation to the self through empirical research, including studies of neurological patients.
Representative Publication: Strohminger, N. and Nichols, N. (2015). Neurodegeneration and Identity. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1468–1479.
Robert Mundheim Professor of Law
Dr. Wax is a neurologist and lawyer, interested in biological and psychological constraints on socialization, development, social stratification, and gender-related behaviors at work and in families.
Representative Publication: Wax, A. L. (2017). The poverty of the neuroscience of poverty: policy payoff or false promise?. Jurimetrics, 57, 239.
Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Dr. Wexler is an historian of science and bioethicist, who has studied the clinical and enhancement uses of brain stimulation. She is currently continuing her research on the neuroethics of DIY brain stimulation and other DIY biomedical practices.
Representative Publication: Oversight of direct-to-consumer neurotechnologies. A Wexler, PB Reiner. Science 363 (6424), 234-235, 2019.