Dr. Sandi Chapman is a national leader in the world of cognitive neuroscience, and has committed her career to making our brains stronger, faster, and last longer. She collaborates with researchers and leaders to advance the science of brain health, and is founder and chief director of the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth. She is also the Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor in the school of behavioral and brain sciences at UT Dallas and is co-leader of The BrainHealth Project.
She is a celebrated speaker who is pushing society’s understanding of brain health, moving the conversation to address issues before there is an injury or traumatic event. She has more than 40 funded research grants, was instrumental in the Texas State Plan on Alzheimer’s disease, and was presented with the Honors of the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders & Sciences for her work in pediatric traumatic brain injury research.
Education: The University of Texas at Dallas (PhD, Cognitive Neuroscience), University of North Texas (MS-Communication Disorders, BS-Speech Pathology)
Birthplace: Houston, Texas
First Job: “Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at Stanford as an Administrative assistant before I completed by bachelors degree. I thought I wanted to be an astronaut as I had been a math major – but I learned from this job that I did not after all want to be an astronaut. I wanted something that explored the expansive space of how to improve humanity.”
Best Advice: “You’re never too old to pursue your dreams -work toward it with every bit of energy and confidence you can muster every day until it becomes a reality.”
Dinner Party: “If I had to choose three, Bishop T.D. Jakes inspires people from so many walks of life-including me. I would love to hear what energizes Lynn McBee to tirelessly and relentlessly work to significantly impact almost every aspect of our community. Peter Brodsky chose to put his heart and soul into investing and building in a part of our city that we all need to thrive.”
Destinations of choice: “Venice is the most magical city for me in the world. CapeTown runs a close second. I’m impressed by the authenticity of the people.”
Nonprofit cause: “Of course it is the Center for BrainHealth – which is the heart and soul of my life purpose as we are committed to bringing brain health discoveries – a higher category of health than mental health or dementia to 7.8 billion people starting young until end of life – around the globe to overcome the economic, societal, and climate crises the world now faces. Our brain is our super power. Another nonprofit that captures my mind and heart is Cafe Momentum, a cause that invests in lives who with some hope, belief and effort can learn to thrive. Chad Houser is a hard-working compassionate human that gives tirelessly of his talents to infuse confidence and a pathway to a productive life for those who had some involvement with the justice system.”
Favorite gift: “The gift of knowing and feeling what it means to be loved – because love is the most powerful gift we can give and share with those around us.”
Hobby/Passion: “Being outdoors in nature and hiking along the beach or mountains. I love people and interesting conversations with diverse groups.”
Local Fare: “Lucia. I have never ordered a meal that was not an exquisite culinary experience created by the gifted David Uygur, chef extraordinaire. I try anything there with great delight in discovering new flavors.”
Fun fact: “I am a daredevil and love to face life invigorating challenges.”
Dream car: “I am driving the car I love, a 2006 Jaguar convertible.”
Toughest Challenge: “Getting people to understand what brain health is and taking it seriously- that it is not just absence of injury and disease and that you can do things to build capacities starting young and should not wait until something goes wrong. We must get “left of boom’ where boom is something bad happening to the brain like a stroke, concussion or effects of anesthesia. In fact, we can do more left of boom than ‘right of boom’ by building clarity, resilience and fortitude and reducing risk factors. We are working to empower people to achieve for their brain health what has been achieved for heart health starting young and continuing into old age.”
Biggest Success: “We were able to achieve during the pandemic in nine months what typically takes four years for a typical grant – to complete a major study with about 200 people ages 18 – 87 to see if they could build brain health capacity during this worst time in our generation testing the utility of our newly developed online BrainHealth Project Platform. 80 percent of the people improved on their BrainHealth Index and the results were published in a Public Health journal in record time.”
A better DFW: “That we became the first BrainHealthy City and embrace what the city could achieve if we helped all of our residents thrive on their harnessed talent in their own context.”
Walk up song: “‘Hope You Dance’ helps me never lose my sense of wonder in the every day surroundings, people and happenings.”
Must-read: “Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho as it has timeless inspirational messages for each of us to be the light for ourselves and to all those around us. I have read it seven times to date.”
Biggest risk: “Bicycling down a mountain passing all the cars at 65-plus miles per hour in the Canadian Rockies.”
Future forecast: “The medical innovation of the BrainHealth Index is a holistic metric that allows measurement and motivation to strive toward the upward potential of the human brain linked to neural measures of brain function that define brain improvement with different interventions/protocols. Future healthcare holds the promise of a more concerted focus on brain health instead of a sole concentration on sick brain care, as is the present situation, to empower people to take greater charge of the gift of neuroplasticity.”
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