keynote speaker: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
"Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor provides remarkable insights about how the function of the brain influences all of us in our day to day lives. She has really caught our attention."
-- Dr. Mehmet Oz
"Dr. Taylor is the epitome of what Eckhart Tolle has been saying about learning to silence our minds. I am fascinated by her story."
-- Oprah Winfrey |
|  | Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
My Stroke of Insight Friday, May 25th, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Sun Valley Inn Limelight Room |
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Dr. Jill Taylor is one of those rare speakers who can keep an audience perched on the edge of their seats for over 90 minutes. She projects an amazing positive energy and is committed to educating everyone about the beauty and resiliency of the human brain. She speaks with the single intention of helping her audience walk away with a better understanding of what is going on inside their heads and how they can get their brain to do what they want it to do. Dr. Taylor is a true advocate for the neuroplasticity of the brain and its ability to recover from trauma. She explains in terms everyone can understand how our brain organizes information and what the differences are between our right and left cerebral hemispheres. She firmly believes that the most important relationship we each have is the relationship between our logical, rational, verbal left brain, and its counterpart - our creative, intuitive, thinking in pictures right hemisphere. Dr. Taylor helps us understand how our two brains work together to create a single seamless perception of reality, and what is going on inside our heads when we experience personal conflict. About Dr. Taylor
Jill Bolte Taylor is a trained and published neuroanatomist. Her specialty was in the postmortem investigation of the human brain as it relates to schizophrenia and the severe mental illnesses. Because she has a brother who has been diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia, Dr. Taylor served for three years on the Board of Directors of National NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) between 1994-1997. (Currently she serves as President of the Greater Bloomington Affiliate of NAMI in Bloomington, Indiana.) Because there is a long term shortage of brain tissue donated for postmortem research by individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Dr. Taylor travels as the National Spokesperson for the Mentally Ill for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Harvard Brain Bank) located at McLean Hospital. As the Singin' Scientist, Dr. Taylor delivers a very popular keynote address titled "How To Get Your Brain To Do What You Want It To Do." But as irony would have it, on December 10, 1996, Dr. Taylor woke up to discover that she was experiencing a rare form of stroke, an arterio-venous malformation (AVM). Two and a half weeks later, on December 27, 1996, she underwent major brain surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to remove a golf ball size blood clot that was placing pressure on the language centers in the left hemisphere of her brain. It took eight years for Dr. Taylor to successfully rebuild her brain - from the inside out. In response to the swelling and trauma of the stroke, which placed pressure on her dominant left hemisphere, the functions of her right hemisphere blossomed. Among other things, she now creates and sells unique stained glass brains when commissioned to do so. In addition, she published a book about her recovery from stroke and the insights she gained into the workings of her brain. The New York Times bestselling memoir is titled My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. In February 2008, Dr. Taylor gave a presentation at the prestigious TED Conference. A video of that presentation was posted on the TED website which was immediately viewed by millions of people around the world. The response to the video launched Dr. Taylor into becoming a highly sought-after public speaker. She was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008 and was the premiere guest on Oprah's Soul Series web-cast. In addition, she was interviewed by Oprah and Dr. Mehmet Oz on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October, 2008. Dr. Taylor is the CEO of My Stroke of Insight, Inc. She is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of the not-for-profit Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, Inc., an organization dedicated to providing educational services and promoting programs related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health, as well as other activities that support this purpose. She is working on the creation of a Serious Game for Health for neurological recovery as she feels passionate about helping others find their way back from neurological trauma. In addition, she is working on her next book. She travels extensively as a keynoter at conferences around the world and is having a wonderful time helping others learn more about their own brains and how to realize that peace really is just a thought away. Her story is being made into a feature film directed by Ron Howard.
Click here to see a video featuring Dr. Taylor called Ode to the Brain! by Symphony of Science. |
