CNS 2025 | Keynote Address by Adriana Galván

Adriana Galván will deliver her lecture in Boston, Massachusetts, March 29, 2025 in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

Adolescent Brain Development: The Importance of Connections

Adriana Galván, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles

Saturday March 29, 2025, 5:00PM -6:00PM (EDT), Grand Ballroom

Adolescence is a special period of development.  Young people ages 10-24 reach important developmental milestones during this time of life during which they explore, grow, and connect.  The neurodevelopmental changes that occur during adolescence support these developmental changes.  As revealed from neuroscience research, the adolescent brain exhibits significant plasticity and undergoes an important period of connectivity—strengthening of brain pathways—that reflect the increasing connections adolescents have with their peers, families and communities.  This talk will provide an overview of brain development, current understanding of adolescent neuroscience, and an opportunity to discuss how this research may be useful in supporting system-impacted youth.

About

Adriana Galván is an American psychologist and expert on adolescent brain development.^[1] She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she directs the Developmental Neuroscience laboratory.^[2] She was appointed the Jeffrey Wenzel Term Chair in Behavioral Neuroscience and the Dean of Undergraduate Education at UCLA.^[3]

Galván completed her bachelor's degree in Neuroscience and Behavior at Barnard College, Columbia University in 2001.^[4] Galván continued her education in neuroscience under the guidance of B.J. Casey at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, where she completed her PhD in 2006.^[5] She obtained post-doctoral training under the supervision of Russell Poldrack and Susan Bookheimer at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA from 2006 to 2008, prior to joining the UCLA faculty in 2008.^[2] She was the honored recipient of the UCLA Department of Psychology Distinguished Teaching Award (Senior Ladder) in 2015.^[6]

Galván is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science^[7] and a recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship.^[8] Her research program has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation,^[9][10][11] Russell Sage Foundation,^[12] Jacobs Foundation,^[13] and the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.^[14]

Galván's research team studies the development of the brain from childhood into adolescence and adulthood, using various neuroimaging techniques to study psychological and neurobiological functioning.^[15] Her studies have explored neural mechanisms underlying decision-making and risk-taking,^[16][17] the influences of stress and other experiences on behavior and brain functioning,^[18][19] and neurobiological factors associated with cigarette smoking in adolescence.^[20] Other influential work has focused on how sleep affects the developing brain.^[21][22]

Source: Wikipedia®