Speaker Series
SNP believes in the power of science communication and public dialogue, so each year we plan a guest speaker/panel of speakers to discuss our topic of focus.
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In 2025, we delved into the topic of health fads and the neuroscience of food – how humans feed, food related conditions, and our emotional relationships with food. We got together a group of panelists that are considered experts across many different fields – neuroscience research, public policy work, and nutritional therapy. The panel was moderated by Dr. Sarah Clark of GSU's Neuroscience Institute, and sparked important conversations on the social determinants of health and the human relationship with food.
Dr. Aaron Roseberry of GSU's Neuroscience Institute conducts research on the neural regulation of feeding and body weight, including the development of obesity, focusing primarily on the mesolimbic dopamine system, which is the brain’s “reward” circuitry.
Amber Johnson of Harmony Nutrition is a registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and a facilitator for The Body Positive. She holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MS in Health Sciences.
Megan Winkler, PhD, is a population health scientist and former clinician. Her research centers two socio-structural determinants to population health and health equity -- (1) retail food environments and (2) people’s employment conditions, such as worker rights, pay, and job security.
Coming off of our topic on Criminal Justice in 2024, we invited Dr. Eyal Aharoni, PhD from Georgia State University to discuss some of his work on the subject. His work spans Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Psychology.
Dr. Aharoni’s current research investigates (1) risk models for antisocial behavior, (2) the application of neuroscience to the law, and (3) the impact of emotion and cognitive bias on criminal, moral, legal, and political decision making. He has a particular interest in how multiple approaches (cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, technological, and neurobiological) to these topics may apply to criminal punishment and criminal justice reform.
In our panel, Dr. Aharoni stimulated fruitful discussion amongst the attendees about the implications of using fMRI and MRI data during sentencing trials.