This session will explore the development, implementation, and impact of the Neuroscience and Society Summer Internship Program, a new initiative funded by the Dana Foundation and hosted at the Center for Medical Ethics & Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. Panelists will discuss the program’s key design features, including interdisciplinary curriculum development, experiential learning opportunities, and intentional mechanisms for community-building.
- Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, PhD
- Meghan Hurley, MA
- Nicole Steiner
- Khara Ramos, PhD
Agenda
- Introduction by Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby / 5 minutes
- Program goals and findings with Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby / 10 minutes
- Journal Club design with Meghan Hurley / 10 minutes
- Intern experience with Nicole Steiner / 10 minutes
- Audience Q&A / 8 minutes
Attend
Bechtel Conference Center at Encina Hall
Main Hall
Friday, April 17, 2026
12:30-1:30pm PDT
Time check »
A password is required to watch this session virtually via Zoom Webinar. Only registered conference participants will receive the password.
Neuroethics 2026
Building Bridges and Cultivating Community
This session is part of the Neuroethics 2026 conference organized by the INS and hosted by the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. Register for the conference to attend in-person at Stanford University in Stanford, California, U.S., or to participate virtually.
Description
This session will explore the development, implementation, and impact of the Neuroscience and Society Summer Internship Program, a new initiative funded by the Dana Foundation and hosted in Summer 2025 at the Center for Medical Ethics & Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. Designed to cultivate interdisciplinary collaboration and strengthen the emerging community at the intersection of brain science and society, the program brought together students from diverse academic backgrounds — including neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and sociology — to engage with ethical, legal, and social issues in contemporary neuroscience.
Panelists will discuss the program’s key design features, including interdisciplinary curriculum development, experiential learning opportunities, and intentional mechanisms for community-building. These features included a structured Neuroethics Journal Club, cross-institutional networking events, and curated modules on foundational neuroethics, neurotechnology governance, and responsible research and innovation. The session will share insights from pre- and post-internship surveys assessing participants’ knowledge, confidence, perceived belonging, and exposure to interdisciplinary methods.
Speakers will examine lessons learned from the first program cycle, including effective strategies for bridging disciplinary languages, maximizing engagement across geographic distance, and spotlighting lived experience and underrepresented voices in neurotechnology ethics. The discussion will highlight the specific contributions of funders, program organizers, and trainees as co-producers of the learning environment, illustrating how collaborative structures can strengthen the future neuroethics workforce.
By showcasing the internship as a model for pipeline development and community cultivation, this session aligns closely with the conference theme, Building Bridges and Cultivating Community. It also directly engages core neuroethics concerns: how best to prepare emerging scholars to responsibly study and govern the brain, how to integrate ethical reflection into scientific training, and how to structure inclusive communities around rapidly evolving neurotechnologies.
Speakers
Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, PhD
Jenny Blumenthal-Barby, Ph.D., M.A. is the Cullen Professor of Medical Ethics and Associate Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Blumenthal-Barby is a philosopher whose research focuses primarily on the ethical issues raised by research on human judgment and decision-making (e.g., decisional biases and heuristics, behavioral economics).
- Program Director
- Ethics and neurotechnology
Meghan Hurley, MA
Baylor College of Medicine
- Program Coordinator
- Journal Club lead
- Former neuroethics intern
Nicole Steiner
PhD candidate in Psychology
- Internship alum
Nicole Steiner received her BA in Psychology/Linguistics and her BA in English from Emory University and joined Dr. Tillman in the Austin Thought Lab in the fall of 2020. She plans to research how children develop concepts and language for abstract ideas such as time, pain, and more. At Emory University in Dr. Lynne Nygaard’s lab, her research explored various topics in language perception and cross modal correspondences, such as grapheme-color synesthesia.
Khara Ramos
Vice President of Neuroscience & Society, Dana Foundation
Khara Ramos, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Neuroscience & Society at the Dana Foundation. A neuroscientist with extensive scientific management and communications expertise, Dr. Ramos oversees the Foundation’s strategy and programs in that area.
Resources
Keywords: neuroethics, neuroscience education, interdisciplinary training, community building, responsible innovation
Recording
A recording of this session will be made available to registered attendees.