How Neuroscience Can Revolutionize the Criminal Law with Francis X. Shen

Neurolaw expert Francis X. Shen delivers the third-annual Weaver Distinguished Lecture in Law, Brain Sciences, and Behavior in Flynn Auditorium at Vanderbilt Law School on Tuesday, March 4.

Professor Shen is Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota, a Member of the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, and the Founding Director of the Dana Foundation Career Network in Neuroscience & Society. He is a faculty member, Chief Innovation Officer, and immediate past Executive Director of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has also served as Executive Director of Education and Outreach activities for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience. He has published extensively in the law and neuroscience domain.

In 2021, Professor Shen was awarded the Early Career Scholars Medal by the American Law Institute, one of two medals awarded every other year by the ALI. In announcing the award, the ALI recognized Shen as “a pioneer in establishing the interdisciplinary field of law and neuroscience.

Among his many other activities, he has provided judges with neurolaw training in programs sponsored by organizations such as the Federal Judicial Center, National Judicial College, American Bar Association, National Association of State Judicial Educators, American Judges Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He currently co-leads two NIH BRAIN Initiative grants, one on portable MRI and one on community engagement in neuroimaging research.

The Weaver Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by the Weaver Family Program in Law, Brain Sciences, and Behavior at Vanderbilt Law School, which is directed by Owen Jones, who holds the Glenn M. Weaver, M.D., and Mary Ellen Weaver Chair in Law, Brain and Behavior. The Weaver Program was established in 2023 with a $3.85 million endowment from the Glenn M. Weaver Foundation in honor of Dr. Weaver, a pioneer in the field of forensic psychiatry, his wife Mary Ellen Weaver, and the Weaver family.