vailsymposium

In 1996, at the age of 37, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness…as a result of this  rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of her life. Amazed to be alive, it took eight years for Taylor to completely rebuild her brain to recover all physical, emotional and thinking abilities.

A Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, Taylor has since dedicated her life to the advancement of brain awareness. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the “Singin’ Scientist.” As she says: “How many brain scientists have been able to study the brain from the inside out? I’ve gotten as much out of this experience of losing my left mind as I have in my entire academic career.”

Her memoir, “My Stroke of Insight,” documenting her experience with stroke and eight-year recovery, spent 63 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and is still routinely the #1 book about stroke on Amazon. Taylor is a dynamic teacher and public speaker who loves educating all age groups, academic levels, as well as corporations about the beauty of our human brain and its ability to recover from trauma. In this program, she is joined by Dr. Sue Morter, author of “The Energy Codes,” to discuss the beauty of the brain.

Watch Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk: “My Stroke of Insight”

Cindy Engles graciously underwrites our summer series.
Alpine Bank graciously sponsors our virtual programs