BRAIN HEALTH PROJECT
FALL 2016
About the Organization
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 physical function and thinking ability. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey (published in 2008 by Viking Penguin). In 2008, Dr. Jill gave a presentation at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA, which turned out to be the first TED talk to ever go viral through the internet. TED and Dr. Jill became world famous instantaneously and her TED talk is now one of the top 5 most viewed TED talks of all time. This now famous 18-minute presentation catapulted her story into the public eye, and within six weeks of presenting that TED talk, Dr. Jill was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008, she was the premiere guest on Oprah's Soul Series web-cast, and her book My Stroke of Insight became a New York Times bestseller.
Dr. Jill feels passionate about helping others find their way back from neurological trauma, and is involved with the development of the upcoming feature film of her life. Dr. Jill created the not-for-profit organization Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, which is dedicated to providing educational services and promoting programs related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health, as well as other activities that support this purpose. The Brain Extravaganza is the not-for-profit's first educational awareness program and you can learn more about that community project at jbtbrains.org.
Dr. Jill remains the National Spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Harvard Brain Bank), and educates the public about the shortage of brain tissue donated for research into the severe mental illnesses. Since 1993, she has been an active member of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) and is currently president-emeritus of the NAMI Greater Bloomington Area affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana, after serving as the president for ten years.
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About the Project
The purpose of the Brain Health Project is to design an app that functions with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s Brain Project. The “JBT Brain Game: What Color is Your Brain?” is a location-based app that allows users to find each of the 22 big fiberglass brains in the Brain Extravaganza! This is a public art display that will soon be located at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Inside the app, players will color in their own stained-glass brain created by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Each of the 22 empty spaces represent one of the 22 fiberglass brains in the Brain Extravaganza! Each Big Brain has a specific question about YOUR brain that you will be presented with when you are near a Big Brain. After you answer the question a particular space on the stained-glass brain will become a color based on that answer.
Your unique colored brain can be shared and compared with your friends using Facebook or Twitter! You can also compare your brain to local, national, and international celebrities. It will be fun to see if your brain resembles that of a famous robotic surgeon, a New York Times author, or a compassionate violinist.
For more information visit http://www.jbtbrains.org/
Our Team
Chance Seger - Team Leader
Nate Dodge - Web Master
Rosa Florence - Communications Liaison
Ethan Miller - Lead Developer
Micah Brame - Developer
