About us
NeuroTransmit was born in response to a proliferation of neuroscience in popular media that is often accepted as a kind of authority, though without the proper ground or critical lens. We support all people in taking that authority back into their hands by transmitting accessible neuroscience education to the public. We mean “accessible” in terms of delivering easy-to-comprehend scientific concepts, but also in terms of adequately addressing and counteracting the ways the institution of science has excluded large populations based on race, gender, sexuality, and disability. Much of what we know and teach today about science and neuroscience in particular is based on a history that is riddled with unethical and non consensual experimentation on black, queer, and disabled bodies. On the other hand, research into the effectiveness of neuropharmaceuticals is often restricted to white, cis-male, US populations, leaving insufficient data on diverse populations. We understand these historical and contemporary issues that surround neuroscience to be as necessary to grapple with as the science itself, and all of our programs are grounded in this framework.
We are a science education organization founded and taught by two individuals who have personal experience with being in the minority within science spaces, as well as professional pedagogical experiences teaching in diverse classrooms. Dr. Braun (she/they) identifies as a queer neurodivergent white woman, and Dr. Wercberger (they/them) as a white queer, nonbinary Jewish person. Both instructors have completed doctorates in the field of Neuroscience as well as pedagogy fellowships with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at Stanford University. While women neuroscientists and neuroscientists of color are responsible for many important advancements in recent decades, the public face of the field still skews predominantly white and male. Popular Neuroscience messaging is often coded with specific cultural connotations such as “hacking” your brain or “optimizing” your emotions, an approach that resonates with some audiences, but others may find alienating. We believe that the field merits reinterpretation for a more inclusive audience, and that a strict western biomedical framing of the brain is incomplete. The human brain is communal property, and a basic understanding of its function should be available to everyone.
