Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Professor, MIT
Biography
Dr. Mark Bear is the Picower Professor of Neuroscience in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994 to 2015, and served as Director of the Picower Institute from 2007 to 2009. Prior to moving to MIT in 2003, Dr. Bear was the Sidney A. and Dorothy Doctors Fox Professor at Brown University School of Medicine for 17 years. After receiving his B.S. degree from Duke University, he earned his Ph.D. degree in neurobiology at Brown. He took postdoctoral training from Wolf Singer at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, and from Leon Cooper at Brown. His long-standing scientific interest is in how the brain is modified by experience, and his lab is currently focused on applying knowledge of the elementary mechanisms of synaptic plasticity to overcome genetic or environmental adversity. Professor Bear has a deep commitment to mentorship of PhD students and postdocs. At MIT, he currently serves as the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department Faculty Postdoctoral Officer and as a member of the Junior Faculty Mentorship Committee. He is also a member of the MIT Faculty Postdoc Advisory Committee. Professor Bear has proudly mentored over 20 predoctoral and 25 postdoctoral trainees, and many of them are now distinguished independent investigators.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
David Liebeskind, UCLA
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Li-Huei Tsai, MIT Picower Institute (Pioneer)
• Thomas C. Südhof, Stanford (Nobel Laureate, Pioneer)
• David Holtzman, WashU (Pioneer)
• Henrik Zetterberg, UCL / Gothenburg (Luminary)
Featured Speakers
• Thomas C. Südhof, Stanford
• Li-Huei Tsai, MIT Picower Institute
• David Holtzman, WashU
• Henrik Zetterberg, UCL / Gothenburg
• Mark Mintun, Lilly
• Randall Bateman, WashU
• Nikolaos Mellios, Circular Genomics
• Robert Rissman, USC
• Lynn Kramer, Eisai
• Thomas F. Tropea, University of Pennsylvania
• Ari J. Green, UCSF
• Diane Chan, Mass General Brigham
• Leslie Shaw, University of Pennsylvania
• Prashanthi Vemuri, Mayo Clinic
• Kejal Kantarci, Mayo Clinic
• Dan Huddleston, Lightbox Science
• Patrick Brannelly, 10K Brains
• Allan Levey, Emory
From Blood Test to Treatment
Are we finally diagnosing Alzheimer's early enough to change care?
Precision Diagnostics Across Neurology
From biomarker to bedside across neurological disease.
Neurodegeneration Beyond Alzheimer's
Parkinson's, ALS, and FTD in the precision era.
AI & Imaging Across Neurological Disease
Precision phenotyping in stroke, epilepsy, and neurodegeneration.
Why Precision Neurology Is Not Scaling
The evidence, infrastructure, access, and workflow barriers that must be fixed.
Harnessing Brain Rhythms
Gamma oscillations, brain circuits, and the future of neurotherapy.
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
