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Simon Baron-Cohen, Ph.D.

Director Of The Autism Research Centre
Cambridge University

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen is Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge University. He has made contributions to many aspects of autism research and has published over 750 peer reviewed scientific articles. In 1999, he set up the first UK clinic for the late diagnosis of autism in adults. In 2010, he chaired the NICE Guidelines for autism in adults. In 2017, he gave a keynote address to the United Nations on Autism Awareness Day on the topic of Autism and Human Rights. In 2017 he served as President of the International Society for Autism Research. In 2021, he received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List for his services to autism. In 2023, the Medical Research Council (MRC) awarded him with the MRC Millennium Medal in recognition of his pioneering MRC-funded research into the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, his establishment of the ARC, and his work in the public understanding of neurodiversity. In 2026 he was given the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, the highest prize in the field of psychology, for the same discoveries. He has written 3 popular science books. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Society of Medicine. His recent book The Pattern Seekers is a celebration of the role autistic people have played in human invention.


BARON-COHEN, SIMON
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David A. Bennett, MD

Director
Rush University Medical Center

David A. Bennett, MD, is director of the RUSH Alzheimer’s Disease Center and the Robert C. Borwell Professor of Neurological Sciences. The Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center is a large, free-standing multidisciplinary research and clinical center within Rush Medical College that studies a wide range of common chronic conditions of aging. Studies range from community-based epidemiologic studies across the USA, Brazil and Mexico to phase I-IV clinical trials. Dr. Bennett is internationally known for his research and is the principal investigator of several studies funded by the National Institute on Aging, including the Religious Orders Study, the Rush Memory and Aging Project, and the Pathology, Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Study in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He also directs the Regional Alzheimer’s Disease Assistance Center for Northern Illinois. He serves on numerous national and international advisory and editorial boards. He recently rotated off membership of the National Advisory Council on Aging for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bennett was the winner of the 2018 Potampkin Prize for research on dementia. He has more than 1,500 peer-reviewed manuscript publications, with more than 290,000 citations and an h-index of 246.


BENNETT, DAVID
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Brianne Bettcher, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
University Of Colorado Anschutz

Dr. Bettcher is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz. She directs neuropsychology research in the Behavioral Neurology section at CU and oversees the Colorado Aging Brain laboratory. The focus of her research program is at the interface of immune biology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology, with the primary goals being to elucidate modifiable, immune-mediated factors that will inform early treatments for cognitive decline in late life. 


BETTCHER, BRIANNE
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Karen Blackmon, PhD

Associate Professor
Geisel School Of Medicine At Dartmouth

Karen Blackmon is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Associate Professor of Population Health at Aga Khan University in Kenya, and Co-Chair of the World Health Organization Dementia Assessment Workgroup. Her research focuses on identifying at-risk and resilient cognitive aging with novel tools and biomarkers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. She is a Principal Investigator on the NIH-funded Brain-START project, which is validating new digital cognitive assessments for dementia detection across Kenya and Pakistan, as well as the Wellcome Leap-funded Brain-Resilience-Kenya study, which employs a mixed-methods approach to identify biopsychosocial factors underlying cognitive resiliency in Kenyan adults. Her clinical efforts aim to streamline early detection, pre-diagnostic care pathways, and brain health lifestyle change for patients with cognitive decline. 


BLACKMON, KAREN