A CONVERSATION WITH CRISTINA PATO AND KENNETH S. KOSIK: An Invisible Ancestry and the Unquiet Genes of the Brain

Cristina Pato is the 2019 / 2020 King Juan Carlos Chair in Spanish Culture and Civilization, NYU King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center.

In this conversation, artist and educator Cristina Pato and neuroscientist Kenneth S. Kosik will talk about music, memory loss, cultural memory, learning and genetics. Dr. Kosik is the co-director of the Neuroscience Research Institute and the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Over the last 25 years he has been researching the largest known family in the world with hereditary early-onset of Alzheimer’s disease, in the state of Antioquia, Colombia. His work alongside Prof. Franscico Lopera, director of the Neuroscience Group of Antioquia, inspired Cristina to co-create and co-teach a trans-disciplinary class on memory and migration at UCSB. This collaborative project, designed as part of the Arnhold Innovative Teaching and Learning Initiative for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, was co-created by Pato, Kosik, and Kim Yasuda (Spatial Art).

Kenneth S. Kosik, M.A. M.D. is a neuroscientist who served as professor at the Harvard Medical School from 1996-2004 when he became the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara. He co-authored Outsmarting Alzheimer’s Disease, co-founded the Learning and the Brain Conference for educators and conducted seminal research in Alzheimer’s disease genetics and cell biology. His UCSB Arts and Humanities commencement address was archived at the Graduation Wisdom Best Commencement Speeches web site.