Internationally renowned neuroscientist, anthropologist to give lecture at KU

LAWRENCE — Helen Fisher, a pioneer in the biology of human personalities and neurochemistry of leadership, will deliver the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium Lecture next month at the University of Kansas.

Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, will present “The Neuroscience of Innovation” at 4:30 p.m. April 12 in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Her talk is free and open to the public.

Named a TED All-Star and one of “the 15 most amazing women in science today” by Business Insider, Fisher has given the world a new way to look at relationships and “corporate chemistry.” Her groundbreaking research in biology, neuroscience and psychology has made her the most referenced scholar in the field of love and relationships in the world today. It was during her time as the chief scientific adviser for Match.com that Fisher developed “The Fisher Temperament Inventory,” which is the first and only personality questionnaire that is built from and validated by neuroscience.

Fisher’s extensive research in biological anthropology has led her to use brain chemistry as a way to discuss the neuroscience of business leadership and innovation. During the Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium lecture, she will discuss the role of brain biology and personality as it relates to innovative thinking and the natural composition of a working team. Fisher also will discuss how to capitalize on your own creative style with the goal of improving the audience’s understanding of how individuals collaborate, resolve conflict, sell, innovate and lead.

Fisher is a graduate of New York University and the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has written five best-selling books on the neuroscience behind human social behavior, and her articles have appeared in the Huffington Post, Frontiers in Psychology and Newsweek.

The Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium Lecture is sponsored by the Self Graduate Fellowship. The mission of the Self Graduate Fellowship is to identify, recruit and provide development opportunities for exceptional doctoral students in business, economics, engineering, mathematics, biological, biomedical, pharmaceutical and physical sciences who demonstrate the promise to make significant contributions to their fields of study and society as a whole.

The late Madison “Al” and Lila Self launched and permanently endowed the Self Graduate Fellowship in 1989, making 2019 the 30th anniversary for the fellowship. The creation of the Self Graduate Fellowship was motivated by Al and Lila’s belief in the vital importance of developing leadership for tomorrow. They are the University of Kansas’ most generous private donors to date.