Heather Berlin

Last updated
Heather Berlin
Dr. Heather Berlin.jpg
Berlin in 2014
Born
Heather A. Berlin

Other namesHeather Berlin
Alma mater Magdalen College, University of Oxford (DPhil)
Harvard University (MPH)
Spouse Baba Brinkman (2013-2024)
AwardsYoung Investigator Award American Neuropsychiatric Association
Clifford Yorke Prize International Neuropsychoanalysis Society
Scientific career
Fields Neuroscience
Psychology
Science Communication
Institutions Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York Presbyterian Hospital
Weill Cornell Medicine
Thesis Impulsivity, the orbitofrontal cortex and borderline personality disorder  (2003)
Doctoral advisors Susan Iversen
Edmund Rolls [1]
Website heatherberlin.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Heather A. Berlin is an American neuroscientist and licensed clinical psychologist [2] noted for her work in science communication and science outreach. [3] [4] Her research focuses on brain-behavior relationships affecting the prevention and treatment of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric disorders. [5] She is also interested in the neural basis of consciousness, [6] dynamic unconscious processes, [7] and creativity. [8] Berlin is host of the PBS Nova series Your Brain, [9] the PBS series Science Goes to the Movies, [10] the Discovery Channel series Superhuman Showdown, [11] [12] and StarTalk All-Stars [13] with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. She also co-hosts (with neuroscientist Christof Koch) the Science of Perception Box [14] - the #1 Science podcast on Apple Podcasts during its run.

Contents

Education and early life

Born Jewish [15] and with Eastern European and Russian heritage, Berlin grew up in New York. [16] As a child, Berlin was fascinated by the brain and would often ask questions about consciousness and mortality. Berlin received her doctorate in experimental psychology/neuropsychology from Magdalen College, University of Oxford [1] and her Master of Public Health from Harvard University, where she specialized in psychiatric epidemiology and health care management/policy. [17] She earned a BS from SUNY Stony Brook, [18] where she was pre-med and minored in Fine Arts. Berlin has also completed a Master’s in Psychology at the New School for Social Research, an National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (specializing in compulsive, impulsive, personality, and anxiety disorders), and trained in neuropsychology at Weill Cornell Medicine in the Department of Neurological Surgery. [19]

Career and research

Throughout her career, Berlin has spent a considerable amount of time teaching within the United States and internationally. She is currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, [5] and was a visiting scholar at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and a visiting assistant professor at Vassar College. Internationally, Berlin was a visiting lecturer at both the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Berlin's research has been published in American Journal of Psychiatry , [20] Journal of Personality Disorders, Psychiatry Research, Brain, and Scientific American [21] among others.

As both a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, Berlin divides her time between treating patients and conducting research. In her private practice, Berlin takes a predominantly holistic approach, focusing on the improving the well-being of her clients rather than on the “illness”. [22] In her research, she is interested in the neural basis of impulsive, compulsive and anxiety disorders, consciousness, unconscious processes, and creativity. Berlin primarily relies on neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), but has also been involved psychopharmacological clinical trials, and in experimental trials using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) to treatment refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). [23]

Passionate about science communication, destigmatizing mental illness, and promoting women in STEM, Berlin is a committee member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange, [24] and on the inaugural committee of the National Academies’ Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication. She has also served on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Technology Engagement with the Public (CoSTEP), [25] and The New York Times series TimesTalks. [26]

She co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway and Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, Off the Top, [27] which is about the neuroscience of improvisation, [28] and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, Impulse Control. [29] Berlin has made numerous media appearances including on the History Channel, Netflix (Chelsea Does Drugs with Chelsea Handler, and The Mind, Explained ), [30] Discovery Channel, BBC World Service, [31] StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson, [32] [33] [34] [35] Big Think, [36] [37] Bill Nye: Science Guy documentary film, [38] Curious Minds and One World with Deepak Chopra, [39] [40] StoryCollider [41] and TEDx. [6] [42]

Awards and honors

Berlin has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including American Neuropsychiatric Association's Young Investigator Award, National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder's Young Investigator Award, and the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society's Clifford Yorke Prize. She also won the BBC's Christmas University Challenge as part of the Magdalen College, Oxford team.

Selected publications

Personal life

Berlin has a daughter, born in November 2013, and a son, born in November 2016, with Baba Brinkman, [43] a rap artist, science communicator, and playwright based in New York, NY.

References

  1. 1 2 Berlin, Heather (2003). Impulsivity, the orbitofrontal cortex and borderline personality disorder. ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   498650103. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.275651.
  2. "Psychology Today".
  3. "The power of science communication: 5 questions for Heather Berlin, American Psychological Association, 2023".
  4. Heather Berlin publications from Europe PubMed Central OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  5. 1 2 3 "Heather Berlin | Mount Sinai - New York". Mount Sinai Health System.
  6. 1 2 "Heather Berlin TEDxYouth@KC talk". YouTube . 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  7. "Heather Berlin Lucid NYC talk". YouTube . 30 September 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  8. "Off the Top: The Neuroscience of Creativity". 92nd St Y. 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  9. "Your Brain". PBS . 17 May 2023.
  10. "Science Goes to the Movies - Warp Drive". CUNY TV.
  11. "Superhuman Showdown: Brain episode trailer". YouTube . 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  12. "Superhuman Showdown Series trailer". YouTube . 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  13. "About StarTalk All-Stars". StarTalk Radio Show by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
  14. "Science of Perception Box - on YouTube".
  15. "The Science of Dating: Stories about sex and romance". The Story Collider. 6 July 2018.
  16. Krisch, Lizzie. "Heather Berlin". RockEDU. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  17. "286: Dr. Heather Berlin: Capturing Creativity and Investigating Improvisation in the Brain". July 20, 2015.
  18. "Heather Berlin SUNY Stony Brook 40 Under Forty Honoree".
  19. "Dr. Heather Berlin | Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist" . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  20. Berlin, HA; Rolls, ET; Iversen, SD (2005). "Borderline personality disorder, impulsivity, and the orbitofrontal cortex" . American Journal of Psychiatry. 162 (12): 2360–73. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.12.2360. PMID   16330602.
  21. Berlin, HA; Koch, C (April 2009). "Defense Mechanisms: Neuroscience Meets Psychoanalysis". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  22. "Dr. Heather Berlin | Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist" . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  23. "Dr. Heather Berlin | Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist" . Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  24. "Exchange – NAS Science & Entertainment Exchange".
  25. "Committee on Science and Technology Engagement with the Public (CoSTEP)". American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  26. "New York Times Event Hub". timestalks.com. 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
  27. Macknik, Stephen L. (January 6, 2017). "Off-the-Top Is an Off-Broadway Mix of Rap and Neuroscience". Scientific American.
  28. "Off the Top, reviews".
  29. "Impuse Control, Edinburgh Fringe Festival". EdFringe.
  30. "Chelsea Does Drugs trailer". YouTube . 14 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  31. "BBC World Service: The Forum". BBC.
  32. "StarTalk Live! Big Brains at BAM (Part 1)". YouTube . 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  33. "StarTalk Live! Big Brains at BAM (Part 2)". YouTube . 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  34. "StarTalk Live! Big Brains at BAM (Part 3)". YouTube . 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  35. "StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson - The Science of the Mind". YouTube . 15 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  36. "The Neuroscience of Genius, Creativity, and Improvisation, with Heather Berlin". Big Think. 4 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  37. "Bill Nye: Science Guy' Review". IndieWire. 13 March 2017.
  38. "Heather Berlin & Dr. Deepak Chopra: The Neuroscience Of Consciousness". Curious Minds. 19 October 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  39. "Deepak Chopra interviews Heather Berlin". One World. 3 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  40. "Can a neuroscientist believe in life after death?". Story Collider. 20 January 2013.
  41. "Heather Berlin TEDxAsburyPark talk". YouTube . 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  42. Musbach, Julie (July 1, 2019). "Neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin And Rapper Baba Brinkman Bring A New Show To The Edinburgh Fringe". Broadway World.