Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist who experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. On the afternoon of this rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for Dr. Jill to completely recover all of her functions and thinking ability. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey and was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008. In addition, Dr. Jill was the premiere guest on Oprah's Soul Series webcast and her interview with Oprah and Dr. Oz on the Oprah Winfrey Show aired in October 2008.

Dr. Jill is the CEO of My Stroke of Insight, Inc. She is working on research in neurological rehabiliitation and writing her next book. She remains the National Spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Harvard Brain Bank) and travels the world keynoting at private and public events. Dr. Taylor has been an active member of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) since 1993 and is currently the president of the NAMI affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana.

• Presentation Topics

  Dr. Taylor is one of those rare speakers who can keep an audience perched on the edge of their seats for over 90 minutes. Dr. Jill projects an amazing positive energy and is committed to educating everyone about the beauty and resiliency of the human brain. She keynotes with the single intention of helping her audience walk away with a better understanding of what is going on inside their heads and how they can get their brain to do what they want it to do. She is a true advocate for the neuroplasticity of the brain and its ability to recover from trauma.
  
  Dr. Jill explains in terms everyone can understand how our brain organizes information and what the differences are between our right and left cerebral hemispheres. She firmly believes that the most important relationship we each have is the relationship between our logical, rational, verbal left brain, and its counterpart - our creative, intuitive, thinking in pictures right hemisphere. Dr. Jill helps us understand how our two brains work together to create a single seamless perception of reality, and what is going on inside our heads when we experience personal conflict.
  
  Dr. Taylor loves keynoting and is a master at tailoring her presentation to the interest and skill-set of the audience. Regardless of who she is speaking to – corporate leaders, medical professionals, government officials, or the lay public, Dr. Jill believes we all have much more power over what is going on inside our heads than we were ever taught. Her fascination and love of the human brain is contagious as she clarifies how any of us can embrace and exert the life force power we innately are.
  
  People walk away from these presentations looking at themselves through a much more open and compassionate filter. When we understand who is who inside each of our hemispheres, we can learn to recognize those skill-sets within ourselves and in others. Dr. Jill helps us see that we each really do have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. It's not that hard when you know what you are looking for. Peace truly is just a thought away.
  
  As an "Advocate for Humanity," Dr. Jill is a compassionate motivational speaker who speaks from her heart, both as a well sibling of a brother who has been diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia and as a survivor of a debilitating stroke (AVM) which initially rendered her completely disabled.
  
  Dr. Jill has dedicated her career to the advancement of postmortem research into the human brain and to the education of the public about the fragile, yet resilient, nature of this incredible organ. By sharing her science and her unique personal journey, she communicates a message of hope, education, and celebration.
  
  Presentation topics include:
  
  - "My Stroke of Insight" with a focus on the content of Dr. Jill's book My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey.
  
  - "How to Get Your Brain To Do What You Want It To Do" with a focus on how we can create a healthy environment for the cells making up our brain so they can exhibit optimal health and performance.
  
  - "Who's Who Inside of You?" with a focus on identifying the two very different personalities, talents, and skill-sets within each of our hemispheres with the intention of developing our ability to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.
  
  - "Ninety Seconds to Happiness" with a focus on understanding how the choices we make and the thoughts we think directly influence our level of joy.
  
  - "Compassion in Medicine" with a focus on health care and the different approaches and options for caregivers dealing with people in need.
  
  In addition, Dr. Jill is happy to create an original topic in order to cater her presentation to an organization's specific needs.

  As a public speaker, Dr. Jill's presentations are specifically designed for the education of both the lay public and health professionals. Intended to be "Brain 101" presentations, her audiences are made up of people who want to better understand the beautiful human brain. How does the underlying structural and functional anatomical organization of our brain ultimately result in our behavior? How does our brain create our individual perception of reality? How is it that someone else's perception of reality can be radically different from our own?
  
  Dr. Jill's presentation style is stippled with both appropriate humor and beautiful slides of the brain. She is a dynamic speaker who helps make the subject of the human brain not only manageable, but interesting, exciting, and intellectually stimulating to a wide variety of audiences:
  
  -Corporations and businesses will understand the similarities between the structure of the human body and the structure of a company
  
  -Parents, teachers, and teenagers will discover what is behind the phenomenon of the teenage brain
  
  -Physicians and hospital staff will experience compassion in medicine from both sides of the stethoscope
  
  -Elementary school students will learn about the beautiful brain inside their heads
  
  -Mental health providers will appreciate the biology of the brain and the effects of various stimuli on behavior
  
  -Retirement communities will understand the value of movement and stimulation for their brains and bodies
  
  -Communities of worship will resonate with the message of unity and peace residing in the brain's biology
  
  As an "Advocate for Humanity," Dr. Jill is a compassionate motivational speaker who speaks from her heart, both as a well sibling of a brother who has been diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia and as a survivor of a debilitating stroke (AVM) which initially rendered her completely disabled.
  
  Dr. Jill has dedicated her career to the advancement of postmortem research into the human brain and to the education of the public about the fragile, yet resilient, nature of this incredible organ. By sharing her science and her unique personal journey, she communicates a message of hope, education, and celebration.
  
  Presentation topics include:

  ·"My Stroke of Insight" with a focus on Dr. Jill's personal story:
  why she grew up to study the brain, her research activities, and her own brain disorder.
  ·"How to Get Your Brain To Do What You Want It To Do" with a focus on how to create a healthy environment for the cells inside our heads and how to communicate with them for optimal health and performance.
  ·"Who's Who Inside of You?" with a focus on identifying the two very different personalities within each of our hemispheres with an intention of developing our ability to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.
  ·"How to Capitalize On Our Two Hemispheres" with a focus on the talents and skills of each of our hemispheres and how to develop them.
  ·"Ninety Seconds to Happiness" with a focus on understanding how the choices we make and the thoughts we think directly influence our level of joy.
  

  In addition, Dr. Jill is happy to create an original topic in order to cater her presentation to an organization's specific needs.

• 
  May 2008

  My Stroke Of Insight

  A brain scientist's journey from a debilitating stroke to full recovery becomes an inspiring exploration of human consciousness and its possibilities. Taylor observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Ultimately, she repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of her stroke.