Kim Gorgens studies the brain's response to injury -- and advocates that we mind our (gray) matter.

Jeff Iliff is a neuroscientist who explores the unique functions of the brain.

Siddharthan Chandran explores how to heal damage from degenerative disorders such as MS and motor neuron disease (ALS).

Melissa Walker helps military service members recover from traumatic brain injury and mental illness.

David Camarillo's research focuses on understanding and preventing traumatic brain injury.

Amy Cuddy’s research on body language reveals that we can change other people’s perceptions — and perhaps even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions.

TED Fellow Dr. Rebecca Brachman is a pioneer in the field of preventative psychopharmacology, developing drugs to enhance stress resilience and prevent mental illness.

Neurologist V.S. Ramachandran looks deep into the brain’s most basic mechanisms. By working with those who have very specific mental disabilities caused by brain injury or stroke, he can map functions of the mind to physical structures of the brain.

Actress + playwright

At his lab at Stanford School of Medicine, Tony Wyss-Coray studies aging -- and potential cures for it.

Grégoire Courtine and his interdisciplinary lab imagine new ways to recover after devastating, mobility-impairing injury to the spinal cord.

Eva Vertes is a microbiology prodigy. Her discovery, at age 17, of a compound that stops fruit-fly brain cells from dying was regarded as a step toward curing Alzheimer's. Now she aims to find better ways to treat -- and avoid -- cancer.