NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Jasmine A. Kwasa, Ph.D. presented the Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman AES Clinical Lecture in Ethical Neuropsychiatry during the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). Dr. Gipson spoke on Research on Inclusive EEG Methods and Best Practices for Coarse, Curly, and Dense Hair during the Best Practices in Clinical Epilepsy Symposium.
Dr. Kwasa is a special faculty and NIH K00 post-doctoral fellow in the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). SHe earned her B.S. from Washington University in St. Louis, her M.S. from Boston University (both in Biomedical Engineering), and her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from CMU. Her current research seeks to develop neurotechnologies, such as EEG and fNIRS, optimized for coarse, curly hair and dark pigmentation (melanin) with collaborators at CMU. She is also a neuro-ethicist and writes about the future of inclusive neurotech and the history of racial bias in neuroscience, medicine, and technology.
Dr. Kwasa has received several honors throughout her training, including being named a Ford Foundation Fellow, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a Society for Neuroscience fellow, and a “Rising Star in Biomedical Sciences" by MIT. In her free time, she is a dance fitness instructor and enjoys travel and quality time with her enormous family.
The Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman AES Clinical Award in Ethical Neuropsychiatry honors the memory of educator Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman, who held knowledge and compassion as keystone virtues. As a mother of a child with epilepsy, she understood the significant psychiatric and social ramifications of epilepsy. Supported by the AES Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman Fund, this lecture promotes clinical neuropsychiatry, the psychiatric aspects of epilepsy, and/or the use of antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.