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Donna Jackson Nakazawa,

Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning journalist and internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion. She is the author of six books, including her forthcoming book, The Angel and The Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine (Random House/Ballantine, January 2020), which illuminates the newly-understood role of microglia – an elusive type of brain cell capable of Jekyll and Hyde behavior. When triggered, microglia can morph into destroyers and take down synapses, causing depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s. But under the right circumstances, they can be angelic healers, repairing the brain in ways that can help alleviate symptoms and prevent disease. Hailed as “riveting,” “stunning,” and “visionary,” The Angel and the Assassin elucidates the biological basis behind the mind-body connection and offers us a radically reconceived picture of human health. Donna’s other books include Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal (Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2015), The Last Best Cure (Hudson Street Press / Penguin, 2013), The Autoimmune Epidemic (Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, 2009), and Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent’s Guide to Raising Multicultural Children (Perseus, 2003). Her writing has been published in The Washington PostHealth AffairsAeonMoreParentingAARP MagazineGlamour, and elsewhere. She blogs for Psychology Today and HuffPost.

 

In addition to her work as a science journalist, Donna has been a keynote speaker at numerous universities, conferences and hospitals. Her keynote lectures include the 2019 Care Plus Annual Conference, 2018 Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care Conference, 2018 Golisano Children’s Hospital Annual Pediatric Conference, 2017 Royal Society of Medicine SIRPA Conference on Chronic Pain and Emotion, 2017 Learning and the Brain Conference, 2016 Johns Hopkins Conference on Trauma-Informed Healing, and the 2012 International Congress on Autoimmunity. She has appeared on The Today ShowNational Public RadioNBC News, and ABC News. Donna’s book, Childhood Disrupted, was a finalist for the 2016 Books for a Better Life Award, and for her written contributions to the field of immunity, she has received the international AESKU Award, as well as the National Health Information Award, which recognizes the nation’s best magazine articles on health. Donna received her Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and is a graduate of the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Program. 


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