The UCLA-CDU Dana Center for Neuroscience and Society is an interdisciplinary initiative that reimagines the relationship between neuroscience and the public. Our mission is to develop a practice of community partnered neuroscience, influencing education, research, and systems change through centering the knowledge of communities historically underrepresented in neuroscience research.
To these ends, we bring together scholars from neuroscience, social science, education, policy, and the humanities to work with local clinician-scholars, community partners, and organizations in South Los Angeles to foster new types of experts, including neuroscientists able to lead community participatory research and community experts able to navigate the methods of neuroscience.
The Center’s activities are organized by of 4 main pillars: Our Education Initiative, Neuroscience and Society co-lab, Idea Salon series, and Systems Change Project. Each of these areas hosts activities which foster new cross-disciplinary training, new research paradigms, and new collaborative relationships. Come back to learn more about each one.
Our Goals In Our First Year
- Launching our first year-long interdisciplinary fellowship opportunities in October 2024. We expect to fund 6 fellows, from across UCLA, CDU, and the South LA community, and 3 post-doctoral fellows. See our fellowship page for information on our October 2024 fellowship opportunities.
- Releasing our first call for seed grant applications. We anticipate funding up to four projects, at up to $50,000 each, which support the mission of the Center.
- Hosting regular Human Centered Design Workshops for the wider academic and South Los Angeles communities
- Hosting a series of Idea Salons, aimed at fostering discussion, inspiring research, and building a shared language across traditional neuroscience and society boundaries.
Center Directors
Ashley Feinsinger, PhD
Ashley Feinsinger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Chair of the Ethics Education Theme. Her work advances ethical practices in invasive neural device research with humans through qualitative research, conceptual analysis, and cross-disciplinary discussion. Current projects reexamine the concepts of “benefit”, “trust”, and “engagement” in invasive brain research through collaborations with neuroscientists, disability advocacy organizations, and participants. Funded by the BRAIN Initiative, her work has been published in Neuron, Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Medical Ethics. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Philosophy from UCLA.
Amy Woods, MD
Amy Woods is the founding training director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. Dr. Woods graduated with a BA in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She subsequently completed a post-baccalaureate program at Columbia University in New York City and returned to California to attend Keck School of Medicine for her medical training. Dr. Woods completed her adult psychiatry residency at UCLA/San Fernando Valley/VA Greater Los Angeles and child and adolescent fellowship at UCLA.
Associate Center Directors
Helena Hansen, MD, PhD
Helena Hansen is a Professor and Interim Chair of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and Interim Director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is the author of over 100 articles in leading clinical and social science journals, and of three books: Addicted to Christ: Remaking Men in Puerto Rican Pentecostal Drug Ministries; Structural Competency in Medicine and Mental Health: A Case-Based Approach to Treating the Social Determinants of Health (with Jonathan Metzl); and Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Heroin in America (with Jules Netherland and David Herzberg). She has received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and election to the National Academy of Medicine.
Denese Shervington, MD, MPH
Denese Shervington has an intersectional career in public health and academic psychiatry. She is the Chair of Psychiatry and Professor at Charles R. Drew University. Dr. Shervington has held Clinical Professorships at Columbia University and Tulane University. She graduated New York University School of Medicine, holds an MS of Public Health in Population Studies and Family Planning from Tulane University School of Public Health, and completed her residency at UC San Francisco. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. A Fellow of the American Psychiatry Association (APA), she is a recipient of the APA’s Award for Excellence in Service and Advocacy and the Jeanne Spurlock Minority award. A member of the American College of Psychiatrists, she serves on the Psychiatry Resident-In-Training Commission. Dr. Shervington is the author of Healing Is the Revolution, a guide to healing from historical, intergenerational, interpersonal, and community trauma, and hosts the podcast of the same name. She is the proud parent of two amazing children – Iman and Kaleb, and three grandchildren – Ayelet, Hadassah, and Yoav.
Gina Poe, PhD
Gina Poe is a neuroscientist and sleep researcher who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has a research laboratory that studies how memories, emotions, and cognition are served by sleep and how these things are impacted by disturbed or maladaptive sleep. Graduate students in her lab are examining how stressful memories are put to rest during sleep, how we gain insight through sleep in the right place at the right time, and how restful sleep can prevent cognitive problems and addiction. Her work has been featured in major podcast interviews, on Netflix and NOVA, and in talks delivered around the world. At UCLA she also prepares dozens of undergraduates to enter the STEM workforce through funded research experiences and going to grad school as she the Chuck Lorre Scholars Program endowed faculty chair. Dr. Poe has a deep love of Los Angeles and is excited to interact with others bringing society to neuroscience and neuroscience to society.
