Arrested Development: The Teenage Brain and Substance Abuse

Moderator

Claudia Wallis

Scientific American Mind
website

Ms. Wallis is the Managing Editor of Scientific American Mind, a bimonthly magazine that features stories by leading scientists and top journalists about mental health, psychology, neurology and the workings of the brain. Previously, Ms. Wallis served as science editor, editor-at-large and writer at Time magazine, where she authored 40 cover stories in additional to hundreds of other articles. She was the founding editor of Time for Kids magazines, overseeing the launch in 1995 and growing the circulation to 4 million readers in seven years. A two-time National Magazine Award finalist, Ms. Wallis has won journalism prizes from the American Psychiatric Association, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Education Writers Association, and the National Women's Political Caucus, among other organizations. Ms. Wallis's work has appeared in The New York Times, Fortune, Parade, Scientific American and Rolling Stone. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a BA in Philosophy and was a 2008–2009 Spencer Fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Before joining Scientific American Mind, Ms. Wallis served as Associate Dean for Strategic Communications at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health.

Panelists

Honorable Gregory P. Canova, JD

Former Judge, King County Superior Court (2000–2015); King County Drug Court (2012–2015)

Judge Canova earned a JD from the University of Southern California Law School in 1972. He served as private practice attorney from 1972–1974, practicing law for complex civil cases. He handled felony prosecution and supervision of deputy prosecuting attorneys in the Office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney from 1974–1981, performing appellate briefings and oral arguments. In the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Washington, as the Senior Assistant Attorney General, Judge Canova formed and led the Criminal Division to assist local prosecutors, at their request or that of the Governor, in investigation and prosecution of felonies involving white collar crime, corruption, and cases where there was a conflict of interest or insufficient expertise or resources to investigate or prosecute. He also briefed and argued appellate cases in State and Federal Courts. He was elected Judge in 2000, and presided over a wide variety of felony and civil trials and proceedings. He taught for six years at the State Judicial College for new judges; from 2012–2014, Judge Canova presided over Drug Court, a felony diversion court modeled on therapeutic model currently established nationwide. During this tenure, he worked full-time with 275–325 participants suffering from addiction, often with co-occurring disorders), and with staff and outside providers utilizing evidence-based practices. Judge Canova retired in 2015.

Cheryl Healton, DrPH, MPA

Dean, College of Global Public Health, New York University
website

Dr. Healton is Dean of the College of Global Public Health at New York University. Dr. Healton was the first President and chief executive officer at Legacy Foundation, which was created by the Master Settlement Agreement between the States Attorneys General and the tobacco industry. In this role she worked to further the foundation's mission to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. During her tenure with the foundation, she has guided the national youth tobacco prevention counter-marketing campaign, Truth®, which was credited in part with reducing youth smoking prevalence to near record lows. In her capacity as Director at NYU Global Institute of Public Health, she is responsible for building the Institute's academic, service, and research programs in collaboration with partners at NYU and throughout the public health community. The Institute focuses on domestic and international health issues with an emphasis on prevention, systems intervention, and innovation in public health practice.

Nora D. Volkow, MD

Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse, U.S. National Institutes of Health
website

Dr. Volkow is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH. She pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the effects of drugs in the human brain and has demonstrated that drug addiction is a brain disease. She has published more than 600 scientific articles and edited three books. She has received multiple awards, including membership in the Institute of Medicine, named one of Time magazine's "Top 100 People Who Shape our World", included as "One of the 20 People to Watch" by Newsweek magazine and named "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report.

Jeremy Waletzky, MD

Clinical Professor, The George Washington University

Dr. Waletzky is a clinical professor of psychiatry at The George Washington University. He has been in private practice since 1974, specializing in the treatment of patients with bipolar and depressive illnesses. Following the death of his son from a cardiac arrhythmia due to cocaine use, Dr. Waletzky established the Jacob P. Waletzky Award in 2003. Given by the Society for Neuroscience to a young scientist within 15 years of receiving their MD or PhD, the award honors a recipient whose independent basic or clinical research has led to significant conceptual or empirical contributions to the understanding of drug addiction.