{"id":23701,"date":"2023-03-20T18:36:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T18:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=23701&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-08-24T18:56:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:56:42","slug":"minds-on-the-matter","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Minds on the Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Danish<\/p>\n

Danish Bhatti<\/h2>\n

Position at UCF:<\/strong> Associate professor\u00a0of medicine<\/a><\/p>\n

Hometown:<\/strong> Lahore, Pakistan<\/p>\n

Alma Maters:<\/strong>\u00a0King Edward Medical\u00a0University, M.D.
\nUniversity of Nebraska\u00a0Medical Center, residency\u00a0and movement disorders\u00a0fellowship<\/p>\n

\n

\"Luis<\/p>\n

Luis Favela<\/h2>\n

Position at UCF:<\/strong> Associate professor of\u00a0philosophy<\/a> and cognitive\u00a0sciences<\/a><\/p>\n

Hometown:<\/strong> Los Angeles\/San Diego,\u00a0California<\/p>\n

Alma Maters:<\/strong> University of Cincinnati,\u00a0Ph.D. in philosophy and\u00a0M.A. in experimental\u00a0psychology
\nSan Diego State University,\u00a0M.A. in philosophy
\nUniversity of San Diego,\u00a0B.A. in English<\/p>\n

\n

Danish Bhatti<\/strong>: Luis, as an associate\u00a0professor of philosophy and cognitive\u00a0sciences, how do you see the relationship\u00a0between creativity and logic?<\/p>\n

Luis Favela<\/strong>: I think they can go hand\u00a0in hand. Creativity is just the spark,\u00a0these \u201caha\u201d moments. The reasoning\u00a0part is, \u201cWell then, how do I make that\u00a0understandable to myself and to others?\u201d\u00a0So as someone interested in the history\u00a0of science, (I\u2019ve seen) this has been the\u00a0process in many ways.<\/p>\n

Alan Turing was considered the\u00a0\u201cfather\u201d of modern computers. He was\u00a0trying to think in these abstract ways\u00a0about how rules and systems fit together\u00a0to solve any problem, and that required\u00a0creativity and imagination. Then he\u00a0formulated it with the math and then the\u00a0logic, and that let him convey it to other\u00a0people in an understandable way. I hope\u00a0one day to be able to do it as well \u2014 maybe\u00a010% as well as Turing.<\/p>\n

DB:<\/strong> Medicine is much more restrictive\u00a0in terms of the practice, and even in\u00a0research it\u2019s very heavily regulated and\u00a0constrained. My clinical practice and\u00a0research relate to movement disorders,\u00a0such as Parkinson\u2019s disease, which is my\u00a0main focus.<\/p>\n

I think the creativeness in clinical\u00a0practice research is more on the\u00a0implementation side, listening to the\u00a0patient on how therapies, tools and\u00a0diagnostics can be implemented better.<\/p>\n

Luis, you were recently selected for\u00a0a fellowship that aims to understand\u00a0brain-related issues and solutions. What\u00a0is the significance of that collaboration?<\/p>\n

LF:<\/strong> I was selected by the Research\u00a0Corporation for Science Advancement\u00a0for a Scialog Fellowship<\/a>, which is\u00a0examining issues related to the molecular\u00a0basis of cognition. The organization is\u00a0bringing together people with different\u00a0backgrounds for four days to get us\u00a0to think really hard about developing\u00a0risk-taking projects and ideas to move\u00a0science forward in this area. This\u00a0work will contribute to a variety of\u00a0brain-related issues, such as recovering\u00a0from brain injuries and learning how to\u00a0prevent neurodegenerative disease, and\u00a0advance neuromorphic computing.<\/p>\n

I was really honored to be selected,\u00a0especially as one of three philosophers\u00a0among all these scientists. It\u2019s great, but\u00a0where else can we have opportunities like\u00a0these to work with people so different\u00a0from you?<\/p>\n

DB:<\/strong> Yes. The two areas where I\u00a0personally work with other teams include translational medicine, where\u00a0we look at taking concepts from the lab to\u00a0see how they can be used in a clinical trial.<\/p>\n

The other is in the area of better\u00a0diagnostic tools. A lot of medicine is\u00a0trying to develop biotechnology through\u00a0things like at-home monitoring and\u00a0wearable devices, where you have to work\u00a0with other experts in mechanical and\u00a0electrical engineering, software, artificial\u00a0intelligence (AI) and machine learning.\u00a0Medicine will change significantly with AI\u00a0and machine learning.<\/p>\n

LF:<\/strong> In philosophy of science, this topic is\u00a0called automation of discovery. You may\u00a0want to test various kinds of medications,\u00a0but you only have so many participants\u00a0and people to run the experiments.\u00a0But if you were to test virtual patients\u00a0with virtual medications, you could test\u00a0combinations so much faster. There are a\u00a0lot of interesting issues with experiment\u00a0and science, and how do we know these\u00a0[tests] are reliable?<\/p>\n

DB:<\/strong> There are still many areas we need to\u00a0develop to understand brain health.\u00a0We need to improve the reliability of\u00a0diagnosis for many conditions, and we\u00a0need more treatment options available\u00a0for patients. For instance, once you\u00a0have lost brain cells, there is still no\u00a0way to reverse that, so at best what\u00a0we are struggling for is to find ways\u00a0to prevent ongoing cell loss.<\/p>\n

LF:<\/strong> What are some preventative\u00a0measures for maintaining brain\u00a0function as we age?<\/p>\n

DB:<\/strong> Most things that help improve brain\u00a0health are the same things that help\u00a0health in general. Cardiac health is the\u00a0best [according to studies]. People who\u00a0exercise regularly, especially in their\u00a020s and 30s, have a much lower risk of\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s than those who don\u2019t. Healthy\u00a0diets, lots of vegetables, (maintaining) low\u00a0cholesterol \u2014 things like that.<\/p>\n

The only substances known to reduce\u00a0the risk of Parkinson\u2019s are coffee and tea;\u00a0they\u2019re cousins. The more you drink, the\u00a0lower the risk.<\/p>\n

Reading, being active socially and\u00a0(an active) physical lifestyle are all\u00a0preventative. That\u2019s not only true for\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s, but it\u2019s also true for all\u00a0neurological disorders, dementias and so\u00a0on and so forth.<\/p>\n

LF:<\/strong> From the theoretical philosopher\u00a0of science perspective, we don\u2019t have an\u00a0overarching theory of brain function,\u00a0cognition, consciousness or anything\u00a0like that. It\u2019s an interesting tension\u00a0because that absence of understanding\u00a0doesn\u2019t prevent us from exploring and developing medications and treatments,\u00a0but I imagine that it might help\u00a0somewhere down the road. And I find that\u00a0disheartening sometimes, but mostly I\u00a0find it really fascinating and interesting\u00a0because there\u2019s so much work that we still\u00a0need to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23791,"template":"","categories":[1114],"tags":[1628,341,654,1596,1595],"class_list":["post-23701","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1on1","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-danish-bhatti","tag-luis-favela","issues-spring-2023"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Philosophy and Medicine Faculty Discuss the Brain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minds on the Matter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pegasus Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T18:56:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-Yoast-1024x530-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/\",\"name\":\"UCF Philosophy and Medicine Faculty Discuss the Brain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-20T18:36:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-24T18:56:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Danish Bhatti and Luis Favela pose in front of a background with an illustration of a brain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Minds on the Matter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/\",\"name\":\"Pegasus Magazine\",\"description\":\"The Magazine of University of Central Florida\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UCF Philosophy and Medicine Faculty Discuss the Brain","description":"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Minds on the Matter","og_description":"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/","og_site_name":"Pegasus Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_modified_time":"2023-08-24T18:56:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-Yoast-1024x530-1.jpg","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/","name":"UCF Philosophy and Medicine Faculty Discuss the Brain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-20T18:36:36+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-24T18:56:42+00:00","description":"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Danish Bhatti and Luis Favela pose in front of a background with an illustration of a brain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Minds on the Matter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/","name":"Pegasus Magazine","description":"The Magazine of University of Central Florida","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/minds-on-the-matter\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"acf":[],"story_subtitle":"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.","story_description":"Two UCF faculty discuss our understanding of brain function and the mysteries we\u2019re still trying to solve.","story_thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2023\/03\/1on1-1200x800-1-263x175.jpg","width":263,"height":175},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/23701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/23701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23996,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/23701\/revisions\/23996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}