Penn's Center for Neuroscience and Society: The Brains Behind Brain Science

September 2, 2009

How do we keep up with the rapid advances in neuroscience? What are the ethics of "brain enhancement"? Memory mapping? Can we discipline a discipline? Mind our best minds? Where are the brains behind all this new brain science?

The answer: Penn’s newly-launched Center for Neuroscience and Society.

Through research and teaching, this new center will confront the social, legal, and ethical implications of the fast pace of neuroscience -- by increasing our understanding of the impact of neuroscience and encouraging the responsible use of neuroscience.

And, as part of the University's world-class neuroscience research community, the Center will extend Penn's reach beyond academia to engage policy makers, advocacy groups, and professionals -- in fields such as business, the military, law, and education.

"The new Penn Center for Neuroscience and Society typifies our resolve to integrate and to apply knowledge for humanity’s benefit," says President Amy Gutmann.

Knowledge for Good

The Center is the latest example of a defining commitment that began with Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin: to combine the theoretical with the practical in order to solve our most pressing problems. And it couldn't have come at a better time. Every day at Penn, research informs practice, which in turn re-informs research, and new knowledge is created. "And at Penn," says Gutmann, "knowledge is not proprietary." The CNS will join other research centers already at Penn -- the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the Penn Nursing Research Centers, the Institute for Urban Research -- to apply and disseminate knowledge, and, in the words of Franklin, "to do good."

The Center for Neuroscience and Society is also the latest example of Penn's commitment to interdisciplinary research -- in this case, bringing together faculty from the schools of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Law and Engineering and Applied Science to create a community of knowledge that will advance the frontiers of neuroscience.

"We are fortunate at Penn to have the largest and most accomplished group of scholars anywhere in the world working on issues of neuroscience and society," says Penn cognitive neuroscientist Martha J. Farah, who will lead the Center as director. Penn’s Anjan Chatterjee, a cognitive neuroscientist who coined the term, "cosmetic neurology," and Stephen J. Morse, professor of psychology and law in psychiatry and an expert in criminal and mental-health law, will both serve as associate directors.

Today, all universities talk about the importance of working across disciplines to solve our world’s increasingly complex problems. At Penn, where 12 schools are located on one urban campus, and collaboration is a well-established tradition, the University does much more than just talk.

When it comes to neuroscience, Penn is integrating knowledge, creating a community of knowledge, and putting new knowledge into practice -- that's the brains behind the brain science at Penn!

Martha J. Farah is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Psychology at Penn, Stephen J. Morse is the Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law. Supporting faculty and programs and research are two major campaign priorities, comprising 18% and 26%, respectively, of our overall campaign goal.

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