Speaker : Jennie Z. Young, PhD., Executive Director, Canadian Brain Research Strategy
Jennie Z. Young, PhD is the Executive Director of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy (CBRS). Dr. Young holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Alberta, Canada. She then spent 14 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and served as scientific chief-of-staff to Nobel Laureate Susumu Tonegawa and to Picower Institute Director Li-Huei Tsai. Her work has spanned the fields of learning and memory and Alzheimer’s disease and has led to publications in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Biomedical Engineering, and Neuron. Dr. Young joined CBRS in March, 2021. As Executive Director, she leads a pan-Canadian effort to develop a national research strategy for brain and mental health. The mission of CBRS unites a broad, diverse coalition of government, academic, private, non-profit, research funding, patient, and Indigenous stakeholders. Together, they envision a future where Canada pioneers a powerful paradigm shift towards collaborative, transdisciplinary, and open brain research worldwide.