To mark its 30th anniversary, the BIAL Foundation is bringing António Damásio and Hanna Damásio to Portugal for a jointly prepared conference, "On the Physiology of the Mind 2024", presented by the prestigious neuroscientist.

The event will take place on 9^th October, 5 pm (WET time), at the Universidade de Lisboa, and includes the award ceremony for the Maria de Sousa Award 2024, promoted by the Portuguese Medical Association and the BIAL Foundation.

The event will be live-streamed via a controlled platform. There will be simultaneous translation to English. To participate online, registration is mandatory HERE by September 30^th and credentials will be sent on the day before the event by email.

For Luís Portela, Chairman of the BIAL Foundation, "the participation of Professors António Damásio and Hanna Damásio at the 30th-anniversary ceremony fills us with immense gratitude, given the high admiration and esteem in which they are held, as well as their many years of valuable service on the BIAL Foundation's Scientific Board". He also adds that "the decision to combine the award ceremony for the Maria de Sousa Award 2024 and the 30th anniversary conference was because the prestigious couple has maintained a deep friendship with the scientist Maria de Sousa, who was also a member of the Board of the Foundation".

António Damásio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Philosophy, and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USA). A neurologist and neuroscientist, he has made seminal contributions to the understanding of brain processes underlying affect, decision-making, and consciousness. His work has made a major impact on neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. He is the author of several hundred scientific articles and is considered one of the most eminent neuroscientists of the modern era. He is the author of a vast body of work, including "Descartes' Error", "The Feeling of What Happens" and "Looking for Spinoza", among other titles that have been translated worldwide and taught at numerous universities. Damásio is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. He holds Honorary Doctorates from leading universities, some shared with his wife Hanna, such as the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne [EPFL] in 2011 and the Sorbonne [Université Paris Descartes] in 2015.

Hanna Damásio is Dana Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, and Director of the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Centre at the University of Southern California. Using computerised tomography and magnetic resonance scanning, she has developed methods of investigating human brain structure and studied functions such as language, memory, and emotion, using both the lesion method and functional neuroimaging. Her contributions to understanding the neural basis of language processes are especially noted. She graduated from the University of Lisbon Medical School, where she also trained in Neurology and Neuroanatomy. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Neurological Association. She shared the Signoret Prize and the Pessoa Prize with António Damásio.