Brain Awareness - AUC Conference 2023

Ola Morsy

Consultant Psychiatrist Chief Clinical Counselor (Center for Student Well-being) Adjunct Psychology Faculty

the American University in Cairo

Ola Morsy is the Director of the Office of Student Well-being and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the AUC Psychology Department. The Office of Student Well-being consists of three different units, providing distinct support services to AUC students; which are the Student Counseling Center (SCC), Coaching for Learning and Success (CLAS), and Students’ Disability Services (SDS). The office is very unique, considered a prototype for other universities, that lack such services.

Ola is a MD, Board Certified, and Licensed Consultant Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist. Ola has 26 years’ experience in the field of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy. Ola is committed to her mission in spreading awareness of mental health to all AUC community, and acts as an advocate for students in need of support. Ola is also extremely passionate about teaching

psychology to students (Abnormal Psychology & Bio-Psychology) in a practical approach, including several hospital visits.

Ola has been appointed as a senior counselor in 2009 after 8 years of part-time consultancy at AUC, due to the high demand on the Student Counseling Center & the complexity of the cases that required her degree of expertise. Since then, Ola has been very dedicated to AUC students, devoted to maintenance of their psychological well-being, committed to enhancing their self-awareness & determined to demolish mental health stigma.

Ola was chosen by the eminent Professor Ahmed Okasha (Former President of the World Psychiatric Association) to work at his private hospital for Psychological Medicine, for 15 years as his main assistant. This opportunity had a superb effect on widening the scope of her experience, enhanced her knowledge, and enriched her clinical acumen. She was appointed after proving that she was conscientious and devoted to her work during her training for 3 years, at the Institute of Psychiatry

(WHO Collaborating Center) & Neurology Department at Ain Shams University Hospital. Ola graduated from Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University in 1991, obtained her Master’s Degree in Neurology and Psychiatry in 1996, the Arab Board of Psychiatry Membership Certificate in 2001, and Consultancy in Psychiatry from the Egyptian Medical Syndicate in 2008. Ola is a member of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association (EPA) and the American Psychiatric

Association (APA).

Jacquelyn Berry

Cognitive Scientist - Assistant Professor

the American University in Cairo

Jacquelyn Berry, Ph.D. obtained her doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from the University at Albany, SUNY. After completing a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award at AUC in 2019-20, during which she studied human-computer interaction in Arabic-English bilinguals, she returned home and immediately began a speaking tour describing her research and its implications for language policy decisions; including speaking before the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland. Dr. Berry has returned to AUC to continue some of her research with Arabic-English bilinguals and teach undergraduate psychology courses. Her non-academic activities include competing in beauty pageants, being a church leader, advocating for birds, and in 2020 she authored a best-selling book.

Heba ElDeghaidy

Professor of Science Education - Chair of the Department of Educational Studies

the American University in Cairo

EL-Deghaidy is a professor of science education and leads the STEAM education initiative as an international approach to an interdisciplinary learning model. Her doctoral degree in science education comes from the University of Birmingham, UK. Along with her teaching experience, EL-Deghaidy brings a wide range of professional experience, having served on various national and international committees and societies. EL-Deghaidy recently offered a course on Educational Neuroscience for students in the MA programme at AUC

Kateri McRae

Professor of Psychology

University of Denver in Colorado

Kateri McRae is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Denver in Colorado. Her research examines emotion-cognition interactions, including the use of cognition to control emotion, using psychological and neuroscience methods. Dr. McRae's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Mental Health, the Templeton Foundation, and the Burning Man Organization. She teaches graduate courses in affect and neuroscience, and undergraduate courses that examine the intersection of psychology and theatre. She also co-produces and co-hosts a cross-disciplinary podcast, called "The Actor's Mind," which explores psychological processes at play during acting and acting training.

Firat Soylu

Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Neuroscience

University of Alabama

Antoine Adamantidis

Associate Professor in System Neurophysiology in the Dept of Neurology

University of Bern

Prof. Antoine Adamantidis is an Associate Professor in System Neurophysiology in the Dept of Neurology at the University of Bern, and the Director of the “Zentrum Fur Experimentelle Neurologie (ZEN)” at the Inselspital. He obtains his master and doctoral education at the Universities of Liege, Belgium, and trained as a postdoctoral fellow and a Research Associate at Stanford University School of Medicine, USA. Prof. A. Adamantidis’s research objectives aim at investigating the wiring, firing dynamics and plasticity of the neural circuits regulating sleep-wake states in normal and pathological states using in vitro and in vivo optogenetics - a technology that he and his colleagues pioneered at Stanford University - combined to in vivo imaging and electro-physiological methods in mice. His research program has been driven by questions such as What define a sleep/wake circuit? What is the relevance of neural discharge rate in controlling sleep-wake states and sleep function? How pathophysiological symptoms of sleep disorders (narcolepsy, insomnia, etc.) relate to sleep-wake circuits dynamics? His laboratory identified brain circuits controlling sleep-wake states, sleep oscillations (slow waves, theta) and synaptic plasticity underlying memory consolidation and behavioral optimization.

Jamie Berry

Clinical Associate Professor & A Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist and Director of the group private practice

Macquarie University

Dr Jamie Berry is Clinical Associate Professor at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia and a Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist and Director of the group private practice, Advanced Neuropsychological Treatment Services. Dr Berry has research interests in psychometrics and cross-cultural neuropsychology, having published research on cognitive tests he and colleagues have developed and normative data for culturally and linguistically diverse subpopulations in Australia. Jamie also has an interest and specialisation in neuropsychological rehabilitation and intervention and he is the current Chair of the International Neuropsychological Society’s Neuropsychological Intervention Special Interest Group. Jamie is endorsed as a Clinical Neuropsychologist by the Psychology Board of Australia and he is a fellow of the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists (CCN) of the Australian Psychological Society (APS). He teaches on the postgraduate training programs at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney University and Macquarie University.