Sandra Bond Chapman


Sandra Bond Chapman is a cognitive neuroscientist, founder and chief director of the Center for Brain Health, Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor in Brain Health, and a professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The [University of Texas at Dallas].

Education

Chapman received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of North Texas. Her Ph.D. in Communication Disorders is from University of Texas at Dallas.

Career

Chapman began her career in the 1970s as a speech pathologist, where she often worked with autistic children with high support needs. During this time, Chapman noticed that several of the children with high support needs were able to solve complex puzzles despite their perceived deficits. This contradiction sparked Chapman's interest in the brain’s potential and modifiability. Chapman founded the Center for Brain Health, a multidisciplinary center housing brain researchers and therapists working collectively to prevent, arrest, and reverse brain traumas. Chapman continues to serve as the chief director.

Research

Chapman’s cognitive research has laid the theoretical framework and empirical foundation for the development of measurements of higher order reasoning and the development of brain training programs for children and adults. Her research elucidates novel approaches to maximize cognitive function in people with healthy brains as well as those with brain injury, stroke, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, substance abuse, and progressive brain diseases like Alzheimer's disease.
Chapman's research has resulted in more than 120 publications, nearly 60 funded research grants, and has served as a national public health road for maintaining cognitive fitness and building critical thinking and reasoning skills in adolescents. Chapman was the principal member writing the first state plan for Brain Health fitness for adults. She is a core member for NIH's selection process of central data elements for nationwide clinical trials on acquired brain injury. Throughout her career, Chapman has received major federal, state, and private research support to advance the treatment of veterans, sports-related brain injuries, concussions, autism, schizophrenia, adolescent reasoning, and brain development, among others.
Chapman has also published Make Your Brain Smarter, a book of mind improvement strategies.

Memberships

Chapman is a member of the following organizations: