Neuroscience + Dance with Devika Nair

Devika Nair (she/her) manages a large translational brain tumor project at UCSF. Their goal is to better predict tumor transformation to higher grades and differentiate between tumor and treatment effects in primary gliomas using advanced MR imaging techniques. Outside of research, she helps direct a science podcast group called Carry the One Radio whose mission is to ignite scientific curiosity. She also takes classes in and performs Indian classical dance, which has informed her understanding of her field of study—neuroscience.

As a clinical researcher, she finds herself operating between brilliant colleagues with specialized training in high-level physics who run the MRI machines at a tumor research facility and the clinicians who make important decisions based on the lab’s findings. One day, though, an unexpected health scare took her out from behind the glass to inside of the very MRI machines she asks patients to enter every day. Suddenly, what was simply a professional passion—using story to communicate science to the general public—became a personal mission. She wasn’t sure how to explain the way MRIs work that might actually be interesting to other people, until she realized that the movement of hydrogen protons, which is how images wind up on film, look just like the movements of the Indian classical dance she learned as a child.

In this episode, Devika and Brandi talk about the intersections of Neuroscience + Dance, including:

• The amazing story of how we met.
• Her health scare and how she applied her research skills to lend herself a sense of control in the midst of a scary situation.
• Growing up with an artistic mom that inspired her early dance training and who continues to teach today.
• And, her fascination for what art and science have in common, and how they can be used to encourage curiosity and seeing different perspectives outside of your own.

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Music: The in-house musicians at Slip.stream
Audio Engineering: The team at Upfire Digital