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Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series

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Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series brings nationally renowned experts to the Roanoke community. The free public lectures are open to members of the general public as well as to Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic faculty, students, and staff. These lectures are in-person and all people interested in science and biomedical research are  are encouraged to attend.  Read more about Maury Strauss.

View Archived Distinguished Public Lectures

2023-2024 Lectures

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    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier
    Machine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier , home

    Sept. 28, 2023, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Read Montague, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor and Director, Center for Human Neuroscience Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Physics, Virginia Tech College of Science | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk
    Cloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk , home

    Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D., Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography, Director, UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Georgia, and Member, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    Learning and Relearning Movement
    Learning and Relearning Movement , home

    Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Amy Bastian, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Neuroscience and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Chief Science Officer and Senior Vice President, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Member, National Academy of Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    Advances in Frontotemporal Dementia: From Diagnosis to Treatment
    Advances in Frontotemporal Dementia: From Diagnosis to Treatment , home

    Dec. 7, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Bruce Miller, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Director, Memory and Aging Center, Founding Director, Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    Long Covid: the Lasting Legacy of the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Long Covid: the Lasting Legacy of the COVID-19 Pandemic , home

    Jan. 25, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D., FASN, Chief of Research and Development Service, Director, Clinical Epidemiology Center, VA Saint Louis Health Care Systems | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    The Human Milk Microbiome: A Paradigm Shift for Infant Health
    The Human Milk Microbiome: A Paradigm Shift for Infant Health , home

    Feb. 22, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Michelle "Shelley" McGuire, Ph.D., Director and Professor, Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Idaho, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    The Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Populations: What Can Be Done?
    The Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Populations: What Can Be Done? , home

    April 4, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Zulfiqar Bhutta, Ph.D., Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    What is Alzheimer's Disease and Can We Prevent It?
    What is Alzheimer's Disease and Can We Prevent It? , home

    April 11, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Kristine Yaffe, M.D., Professor and Roy and Marie Scola Endowed Chair of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, Director, Center for Population Brain Health, University of California, San Francisco, Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

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    Building Health Resilience to Climate Change in Individuals, Communities, and Nations Around the World, Especially Among Those at Highest Risk
    Building Health Resilience to Climate Change in Individuals, Communities, and Nations Around the World, Especially Among Those at Highest Risk , home

    May 9, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Rick Woychik, Ph.D., Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health; Director, National Toxicology Program, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

About Maury Strauss

Maury Strauss is a longtime community benefactor and businessman who supports biomedical research with the goal of energizing the local economy and improving quality of life in our neighborhoods and around the world. The founder of the Strauss Development Corp., a real estate development firm, Mr. Strauss and his family learned about the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and the work done here. In order to ensure the continued success of Roanoke’s biomedical research enterprise, as well as the free, public seminars by the world’s leading scientists, Mr. Strauss has made a generous gift to the series, which has been renamed in his honor as the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series. Read more about Maury Strauss.

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Fralin Biomedical Research Institute advances scientific discovery daily in our labs and promotes it in the community through lectures, seminars and talks. Any contribution carries that mission further.

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Archived Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lectures

2017 - 2018 Academic Year

2016 - 2017 Academic Year

2015 - 2016 Academic Year

2014 - 2015 Academic Year

  • Dopamine Neuron Regulation and its Disruption in Schizophrenia and Depression
    Sept. 11, 2014  |  Anthony Grace, Ph.D.
  • Modern Treatment of Alcoholism
    Oct. 2, 2014  |  Charles P. O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Influenza Epidemics and Pandemics
    Nov. 20, 2014  |  Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Ph.D.
  • Epigenetics and the Immune System
    Dec. 4, 2014  |  Jeremy Boss, Ph.D.
  • Linking Discoveries in Developmental Biology to 3-Dimensional Printing of New Tissues and Micro-Organs
    Jan. 8, 2015  |   Roger R. Markwald, Ph.D.
  • Molecular Architecture of the Circadian Clock in Mammals
    Feb. 12, 2015  |  Joseph S. Takahashi, Ph.D.
  • Infectious Causes of Heart Failure: Viral Myocarditis
    Mar. 19, 2015  |  Kirk Knowlton, M.D.
  • Fruit Flies and the Human Heart: The Evolution and Function of Potassium Channels From the Inside Out
    April 30, 2015  |  Gail Robertson, Ph.D.
  • Fear and Fear-Related Disorders: From Pavlov to PTSD
    May 21, 2015  |  Kerry Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.

2013 - 2014 Academic Year

  • Family-Wide Impacts of Genetics: The Case of Fragile X
    Sept. 26, 2013  |  Marsha R. Mailick, Ph.D.
  • Autism: New Mutations, Genes, and Pathways
    Nov. 14, 2013  |   Evan Eichler, Ph.D.
  • Innovations in Stroke Neurorehabilitation
    Jan. 9, 2014  |  Steven L. Wolf, Ph.D.
  • What Is the BRAIN Initiative and What Will It Teach Us About Ourselves?
    Feb. 20, 2014  |  Joshua Sanes, Ph.D.
  • Charting Our Future Together: Envisioning a Diverse, Adaptive, and Networked Biomedical Science Ecosystem
    April 3, 2014  |  Gary Gibbons, M.D.
  • How Viruses Infect the Brain
    April 10, 2014  |  Terence S. Dermody, M.D.
  • What Makes the Human Brain Human?
    May 1, 2014  |  Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D.
  • Cancer and Aging
    May 22, 2014  |  Ronald A. DePinho, M.D.

2012 - 2013 Academic Year

  • Children’s Right to Thrive: The Promise and Barriers to Putting Science into Action
    Oct. 4, 2012   |  Craig Ramey, Ph.D. and Sharon Ramey, Ph.D.
  • GABA Neurons in Schizophrenia
    Oct. 25, 2012  |  Francine Benes, M.D., Ph.D.
  • The Brain and the Law
    Nov. 12, 2012  |  David Eagleman, Ph.D.
  • Personalized Cancer Medicine: Are We There Yet?
    Dec. 6, 2012  |  Eileen Dolan, Ph.D.
  • The Power of Singing: Implications for Brain Plasticity and Recovery of Function
    Jan. 10, 2013  |  Gottfried Schlaug, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Denial of Service Attacks: Network Hyperexcitability in Alzheimer’s Dementia 
    Jan. 17, 2013  |  Jeffrey Noebels, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Exciting New Ways to Stimulate the Brain to Treat Depression or Pain
    Feb. 14, 2013  |  Mark George, M.D.
  • Understanding Biological Systems: Mission Impossible?
  • March 28, 2013  |  Peter Kohl, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Visualizing Molecular Machines and Cells
    April 11, 2013  |  Wah Chiu, Ph.D.
  • Changing Fear
    April 18, 2013  |  Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D.
    Engaging the Public in Biomedical Research
    Aug. 15, 2013  |  Yvonne Maddox, Ph.D.

2011 - 2012 Academic Year

  • The Molecular Biology of Memory Formation
    Sept. 9, 2011  |  Ron Davis, Ph.D.
  • What Do We Know About Addiction?
    Sept. 29, 2011  |  Nora Volkow, M.D.
  • Seeing What the Nose Tells the Brain
    Sept. 30, 2011  |  Matt Wachowiak, Ph.D.
  • How the Mind Makes Morals
    Oct. 13, 2011  |  Patricia Churchland, Ph.D. 
  • Parallel Universes
    Oct. 20, 2011  |  Robert Kimberly, M.D.
  • How Electron Crytomography is Opening a Window into Bacterial Ultrastructure
    Oct. 27, 2011  |  Grant Jensen, Ph.D.
  • Bacterial Toxins: Structural Studies of Molecular Trojan Horses
    Nov. 3, 2011  |  Melanie Ohi, Ph.D. 
  • Why Tools of the Mind and Montessory Educational Approaches Help Executive Function Skills
    Dec. 1, 2011  |  Adele Diamond, Ph.D. 
  • Steroid Hormones and Cancer
    Dec. 8, 2011  |  Jan-Ake Gustafsson, M.D., Ph.D. 
  • Neurotransmitter Transporters
    Jan. 12, 2012  |  Susan Amara, Ph.D.
  • Evolution of an Adaptive Immune System of Defense
    Jan. 19, 2012  |  Max Cooper, M.D.
  • New Approaches to Treating Chronic Pain
    Jan. 26, 2012  |  Robert Gereau, Ph.D.
  • What Therapeutic Drugs Do
    Feb. 2, 2012  |  John Scott, Ph.D. 
  • How Does a Frog Egg Solve Geometry Problems?
    Feb. 9, 2012  |  Timothy Mitchison, Ph.D.
  • Behavioral Choice Theory and Obesity
    Feb. 23, 2012  | Leonard Epstein, Ph.D.
  • The Violent Brain: Ethical and Legal Implications
    March 8, 2012  |  Afrian Raine, D.Phil.
  • The Functional Architecture of Face Processing
    Mar. 15, 2012  |  Lesie Ungerleider, Ph.D. 
  • Back to the Future: Brain Stimulation in Psychiatry
    Mar. 29, 2012  |  Sarah Lisanby, M.D.
  • Your Genome and Your Health
    April 5, 2012  |  Richard Gibbs, Ph.D. 
  • Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
    May 10, 2012  |  Amy Wagers, Ph.D.
  • How the Brain Develops the Ability to Integrate Information from Different Senses
    May 24, 2012  |  Barry Stein, Ph.D.

2010 - 2011 Academic Year

  • Risk, Resilience, and Gene-Environment Interplay
    Mar. 24, 2011  |  Stephen Suomi, Ph.D.
  • Glial Derived Brain Tumors
    April 7, 2011  |  Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D.
  • Synaptic Plasticity - The Brain's Response to Experience
    May 6, 2011  |  Robert Malenka, Ph.D., M.D.
  • Developing Pharmacotherapies for Cognitive Impairment in Down Syndrome
    May 19, 2011  |  Craig C. Garner, Ph.D.