We are delighted to share that our first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Day was a tremendous success, bringing together more than 100 participants and reflecting the strong engagement of our community in advancing EDI-related research and dialogue.
The afternoon began with opening remarks, followed by long oral presentations by Shima Raeesi, Olivier Parent, Sakiko Yamaguchi, and Aliza Brzezinski-Rittner. Their talks highlighted innovative work addressing key questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in neuroscience and health research, and prompted thoughtful discussion among attendees.
After a coffee break, the program continued with short oral presentations by Tovah Cowan, Mathilde Argote, Zirui Li, Huirong Luo, Matt Dal Bianco, and Elizabeth Pearson, followed by a lively Q&A session. Participants then took part in an interactive creative session facilitated by Camila Vélez, which encouraged reflection and engagement around EDI themes.
The day concluded with a well-attended poster session featuring work by Qing Lin, Daniel Lombardi-Martínez, Maxime Teixeira, Leticia Penkov, Houman Azizi and Nooshin Abbasi, Tovah Cowan, Roqaie Moqadam, Natalie Ma, Nora Morrison, John Bedirian, Katherine Chadwick, and Sarah Ben-Nouna. The session fostered vibrant conversations and valuable exchanges among trainees, faculty, and other attendees.
Four presenters were recognized with awards for outstanding abstracts:
- Shima Raeesi — Race and ethnicity impact education–cognition associations independent of brain pathologies: a HABS-HD study
- Olivier Parent — A data-driven approach to characterizing gendered dynamics across ethnicities
- Sakiko Yamaguchi — Creation of plain language summaries with people with lived experience: From information equity to health equity
- Aliza Brzezinski-Rittner — Disentangling the effect of sex from brain size on brain organization and cognitive functioning
Overall, the inaugural EDI Day was marked by strong participation, stimulating scientific exchange, and enthusiastic engagement from the community, laying a solid foundation for future editions. We would also like to extend special thanks to Nidhi Desai for her invaluable help in organizing and supporting the event.