Emerson Mayer, MD, Ph.D.
Gastroenterologist, Neuroscientist, Professor in the Department of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Executive Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA, and co-director of the CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center
The Mind-Gut Connection: The Impact on Mood, Choices, and Health
The gut converses with the brain like no other organ. If you’ve ever felt queasy as you walked into an uncomfortable situation or based a life decision on a “gut feeling,” then you know that sometimes our bodies react faster and often wiser than our minds. Emeran A. Mayer, MD, Ph.D. is a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist and Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is the Executive Director of the Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA. He is the Executive Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA, and co-director of the CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center. As Dr. Mayer explains, the connection between the mind and the gut is bidirectional: the gut talks to the brain and the brain talks to the gut every minute of our lives. One of the most intriguing aspects of this dialogue is the fact that the microbes living in our gut play a crucial role in it. When this communication channel is out of whack—due to diet, lifestyle, stress, excessive antibiotic use or illness—we experience mental and physical health issues including food sensitivities and allergies, digestive disorders, obesity, depression, panic disorders, anxiety, and fatigue.
NOTE: Dr. Mayer also spoke at two FAN events on the same topic, The Mind-Gut Connection: The Impact on Mood, Choices, and Health.
Event 1: Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 7:00 PM, New Trier High School/Northfield, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd., Northfield.
Event 2: Thursday, April 27, 2017, 12:30 PM, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 25 E. Pearson St., Chicago.
Event Sponsors
- Chia Leah
- ECGC Parent Group at NTHS
- Erika’s Lighthouse
- Family Service of Glencoe
- The Josselyn Center
- Karen Malkin Health Consulting
- Loyola University Chicago School of Law
- National Alliance on Mental Illness – Cook County North Suburban (NAMI-CCNS)
- North Shore Country Day
- Roycemore School
- Samaritan Counseling Center

Upcoming Events
Poverty, by America (Event 1 of 2)
Matthew Desmond, Ph.D.
Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology, Princeton University
Reuben Jonathan Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Poverty, by America (Event 2 of 2)
Matthew Desmond, Ph.D.
Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology, Princeton University
Alex Kotlowitz
Bestselling author, journalist, and professor at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society
Arline T. Geronimus, Sc.D.
Professor in the School of Public Health and Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
Doriane C. Miller, MD
Professor of Medicine and the inaugural director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality and the director of Health Equity Integration for the Institute of Translational Medicine at the University of Chicago
ON ZOOM