Forum considers human consciousness

The 10th annual International Bioethics Forum, “Manifesting the Mind,” will explore perspectives on human consciousness at its two-day symposium April 28-29.

Experts such as National Geographic’s Wade Davis, University of Wisconsin–Madison mindfulness researcher Richie Davidson and physicist Henry Stapp are just a few of researchers and thought leaders to present at the forum to be held at Promega Corporation’s BioPharmaceutical Technology Center in Fitchburg on April 28-29.

With a subject that spans everything from physics and neuroscience to anthropology and ethnobotany, numerous perspectives will be part of this year’s forum including:

• Ethnobotany and indigenous culture
• Sleep, dream and wakefulness states
• The savant syndrome
• Near-death experiences
• Neurotransmitters
• Quantum perspectives
• Recent clinical studies of the therapeutic effects of entheogens
• Mindfulness and meditation

In addition to presentations and panel discussions, this year’s forum will provide an opportunity for more direct and in-depth discussions with presenters who will serve as table hosts for an optional Thursday dinner.

Featured presenters include:

• Richard J. Davidson, director of UW–Madison’s Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior
• Wade Davis, anthropologist, ethnobotanist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence
• Roland Griffiths, professor of behavioral biology, departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Kathleen Harrison, ethnobotanist and president and project director, Botanical Dimensions
• Jeremy Narby, anthropologist and writer, Nouvelle Planète
• David E. Nichols, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University
• Sam Parnia, founder and director, Human Consciousness Project, University of Southampton, UK
• Stephen Ross, assistant professor, New York University, Langone Medical Center
• Henry Stapp, researcher, physics division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry, UW–Madison
• Darold A. Treffert, clinical professor of psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
• Franz X. Vollenweider, professor, University Hospital of Psychiatry; director, neuropsychopharmacology and brain imaging and Heffter Research Center, Zurich, Switzerland.

Manifesting the Mind will be held April 28-29 at Promega Corp.’s BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, 5445 E. Cheryl Parkway in Fitchburg Center, off of South Fish Hatchery Road.

For more information, or to register for the forum and dinner, visit http://www.btci.org.

The BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute and Promega Corporation are co-coordinating this event, joined by numerous supporters, including Michael Best & Friedrich LLP and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation as Platinum Sponsors.