The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
‘Advancing Brain Health through Science, Technology, and Collaboratories’
Damien Fair, PhD, offered a terrific presentation at the University of Minnesota Retirees Association luncheon forum on October 28. The audience of nearly 110 members and friends of UMRA paid close attention as he outlined an optimizing career path that privileged personal and professional priorities and experiences, and led to his current research and program development at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.
His complex educational and scholarly journey underscored the importance of connectivity across what sometimes seem arbitrary borders among experts and fields. His research is indeed exciting and important.
Click on “Fair UMRA forum” to see Professor Fair’s slide presentation: “Liftoff: From Silos to Synergy — Advancing Brain Health through Science, Technology, and Collaboratories.”
—Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, UMRA Program Committee chair
New advances in understanding the developing brain
Tue, October 28, 2025, at 11am
Damien Fair
Redleaf Family Endowed Director
Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain
Midland Hills Country Club
2001 Fulham Street
Roseville, MN 55113
Although neuroscience might seem like an exclusive field meant just for scientists or academics, many of us have been touched in some way by conditions such as autism, dementia, and other cognitive disorders.
To help us better understand this topic, particularly as it relates to children, Damien Fair, PhD, will join us at the October 28 UMRA Luncheon Forum to address new advances in understanding the developing brain.
A cognitive neuroscientist and co-director of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), Fair has expertise in MRI technology, advanced mathematics, psychology, and developmental neuropsychiatric disorders. It would not be hard to call him a neuroscience “superhero!”
Fair came to Minnesota in 2020 because he saw an opportunity to bring together a diverse set of backgrounds and skills to better understand brain development and atypical behaviors, including autism and attention deficit disorder.
Embracing our diverse talents and expertise
Fair has described his approach this way: “I had a vision of what it would require to break down silos of expertise, and the place that had all that expertise was the University of Minnesota! Every step toward a deeper understanding of brain function brings advances that deeply touch our everyday lives. However, continued progress will only happen if we embrace our diverse talents and expertise.”
A professor at the Institute of Child Development in the College of Education and Human Development and at the Medical School Department of Pediatrics, Fair is the Redleaf Family Endowed Director of the MIDB. Originally from Winona, Minnesota, he attended Augustana and Yale universities, received his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, and conducted his postdoctoral work at Oregon Health & Science University.
Fair has published more than 250 articles in high-impact journals including Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, and Molecular Psychiatry. In 2012, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama at the White House. In 2020, he was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow.
He has given briefings to the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus and the American Brain Coalition on the intersection of brain development, policymaking, and education. This is one unstoppable faculty member!
Signups for this event are through the UMRA Member Portal. Be sure to create your login (if you haven’t already) before you try to sign up for this event. Don’t have the instructions? Look for an email from [email protected]. It may have gone to your spam folder.
Register online. Send your questions on registration/cancellations to the reservationist. Saturday, October 18, is the last day to register.
Please let us know if your plans change and you are unable to attend. Cancellations can be done in your online Profile, at UMRA Member Portal > My Profile > My event registrations.
Join us on October 28 for a real “superhero” forum.
—Lynn Slifer, UMRA Program Committee
Editor’s note: To learn more about Damien Fair, read “On being maroon, and gold, and Black,” published by UMRA in February 2021.