Ilina Bhaya-Grossman is a PhD candidate in Dr. Edward Chang’s lab at UCSF where she studies how the human brain processes language, with a particular focus on how brain activity is affected by cross linguistic differences. She studies this question by working with patient populations who have undergone an invasive implantation procedure as part of their clinical care. As a neuroscientist who interfaces directly with patients, Ilina is interested in the language we use to communicate science to human study participants and the public at large. To this end, she has been involved in several science communication efforts, including the UCSF Grad Slam and the Cognitive Science Video competition.
As a Kavli Ethics, Science, and the Public Graduate Fellow, Ilina is keen to understand how philosophers of science, policy makers and journalists conceptualize the dissemination of neuroscientific research. She is particularly interested in exploring the ethical implications and responsibilities involved when considering how to communicate neuroscientific findings to the public effectively. She hopes to explore this question through a historical lens, tracing what once were specific neuroscientific findings into the realm of journalism, policy, and education. In better understanding how prior neuroscientific findings have undergone popularization, she ultimately hopes to learn how to better disseminate her own neuroscientific work.
