CONFERENCE CHAIRS - TSC 2024

Stuart Hameroff  Co-Founder, Co-chair, The Science of Consciousness Conference; Professor Emeritus, Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology, U of Arizona, Stuart Hameroff MD is a clinical anesthesiologist and researcher on how the brain produces consciousness, and how anesthetics act to erase it. In medical school in the early 1970s, Hameroff became interested in consciousness, and in protein structures called microtubules inside brain neurons which he came to believe processed information supporting consciousness. In the mid- 1990s he teamed with Sir Roger Penrose to develop the controversial ‘Orch OR’ theory in which consciousness derives from “orchestrated” (“Orch”) microtubule quantum vibrations linked to processes in spacetime geometry, the fine scale structure of the universe, leading to “Penrose objective reduction” (“OR”, hence “Orch OR”). And he has further proposed the ‘microtubule quantum vibration’ theory of anesthetic action. Hameroff organizes the well-known conference series ‘The Science of Consciousness’, has written or edited 5 books and over a hundred scientific articles, and appeared in films and various TV shows about consciousness. With University of Arizona colleagues Jay Sanguinetti, John JB Allen and Shinzen Young, Hameroff is developing transcranial ultrasound (‘TUS’) for treatment of mental and cognitive dysfunction (TUS may resonate endogenous megahertz vibrations in brain microtubules). Penrose- Hameroff Orch OR is one of a group of major theories of consciousness in the Templeton World Charity Foundation project  ‘Accelerating Research on Consciousness’ and is currently being tested experimentally. (Jan 2024 New Scientist Feature Cover on Quantum Consciousness, G. Musser) (Plen 12)

GEORGE MASHOUR

George A. Mashour is an anesthesiologist and NIH-funded neuroscientist at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he serves as the Robert B. Sweet Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology. He founded and currently directs the Michigan Psychedelic Center, which is multidisciplinary and spans the University of Michigan. (Plen 6)