Cabinets of Curiosity: Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain
Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 10 - 11:30am
Minneapolis MN 55414
If you were one of the nearly 110 UMRA members and friends who attended UMRA’s October 28, 2025, luncheon forum with Damien Fair, co-director of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), you likely left with great curiosity to learn more about the special place founded by Fair, a cognitive neuroscientist, and colleagues.
The institute has its own lovely campus at 2025 East River Parkway in Minneapolis (former home of Shriners Children’s Twin Cities). It is a clinic, research, and outreach center that is home base for collaborative and interdisciplinary work to better understand the developing brain of children and adolescents, and brain health across the life span. It was Fair’s vision that the institute would be a place for breaking down “silos of expertise” and building collaborations to better understand brain development and atypical behaviors.
UMRA members expressed so much interest in the institute during our October forum that Fair offered to host us for a Cabinets of Curiosity visit. We’ll have an opportunity to visit the MIDB campus and talk with faculty and researchers who are involved in some of the 250-plus projects across 80-plus University of Minnesota departments and organizations now associated with the institute.
Participation will be limited, so don’t wait to register for this visit to the Masonic Institute for the Developing brain from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 14. And if your plans change after you register and you cannot attend, be sure to let us know. Cancellations can be done at the UMRA member Portal > My Profile > My event registrations. Or, by contacting the reservationist.
—Jan Morlock, UMRA Social Activities planning group
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