Upcoming
CPS Lecture #164: Dr. David Kessler on diet, drugs, and dopamine: the new science of achieving a healthy weight
Monday, June 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM - Sign Up Here!
Haight Ashbury District, San Francisco
In Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine, former FDA Commissioner Dr. David A. Kessler unpacks the mystery of weight in the most comprehensive work to date on this topic, giving readers the power to dramatically improve their health. Kessler, who has himself struggled with weight, suggests the new class of GLP-1 weight loss drugs have provided a breakthrough: they have radically altered our understanding of weight loss. They make lasting change possible, but they also have real disadvantages and must be considered as part of a comprehensive approach together with nutrition, behavior, and physical activity.
Critical to this new perspective is the insight that weight-loss drugs act on the part of the brain that is responsible for cravings. In essence, the drugs tamp down the addictive circuits that overwhelm rational decision-making and quiet the “food noise” that distracts us. Identifying these mechanisms allows us to develop a strategy for effective long-term weight loss, and that begins with naming the elephant in the room: ultraformulated foods are addictive. Losing weight is a process of treating addiction.
In this landmark book, one of the nation’s leading public health officials breaks taboos around this fraught conversation, giving readers the tools to unplug the brain’s addictive wiring and change their relationship with food. Dr. Kessler cautions that drugs, on their own, pose serious risks and are not a universal solution. But with this new understanding of the brain-body feedback loop comes new possibilities for our health and freedom from a lifelong struggle.
CPS Lecture #166: emily ye on not fitting the age mold
Monday, September 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM - Sign Up Here!
Haight Ashbury District, San Francisco
Although abundant evidence suggests that age stereotypes contribute to workplace age discrimination, little work has examined the effects of occupational age stereotypes. Drawing from prototype matching theory, we propose that worker-occupational age mismatch (i.e., older workers in young-typed occupations and younger workers in old-typed occupations) predicts increased recognition of workplace age discrimination. In an archival study of age discrimination lawsuits filed over five years, we provide support that older workers in young-typed occupations are more likely to have successful age discrimination claims than those in old-typed occupations.
Emily Ye is a PhD Candidate in Organizational Behavior at New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Her research interests broadly surround understanding how different social identities and stereotypes, particularly related to age and gender, influence attitudes and behavior toward individuals in organizations and the broader society. She has published work with her faculty collaborators, Professors Lisa Leslie and Michael North, in the Current Opinion in Psychology journal and the third edition of the Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination. Currently, Emily is working on projects exploring the effects of occupational age stereotypes on worker outcomes, investigating attitudes toward large age-gap romantic relationships, understanding how women manage gender stereotypes in the workplace, and discovering the effects of perceived age in the workplace. Prior to graduate school, Emily graduated from Amherst College and worked as an Analyst for dQ&A, the diabetes market research company.
CPS Lecture #167: jessica lahey on the addiction inoculation
POSTPONED (stay tuned for new date)
Haight Ashbury District, San Francisco
Jessica Lahey was born into a family with a long history of alcoholism and drug abuse. Despite her desire to thwart her genetic legacy, she became an alcoholic and didn’t find her way out until her early forties. Jessica has worked as a teacher in substance abuse programs for teens, and was determined to inoculate her two adolescent sons against their most dangerous inheritance. All children, regardless of their genetics, are at some risk for substance abuse. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, teen drug addiction is the nation’s largest preventable and costly health problem. Despite the existence of proven preventive strategies, nine out of ten adults with substance use disorder report they began drinking and taking drugs before age eighteen.
The Addiction Inoculation is a comprehensive resource parents and educators can use to prevent substance abuse in children. Based on research in child welfare, psychology, substance abuse, and developmental neuroscience, this essential guide provides evidence-based strategies and practical tools adults need to understand, support, and educate resilient, addiction-resistant children. The guidelines are age-appropriate and actionable—from navigating a child’s risk for addiction, to interpreting signs of early abuse, to advice for broaching difficult conversations with children.
“Hard and tremendously important conversations are at the core of The Addiction Inoculation. But thanks to Jessica Lahey’s wit, compassion, and beautiful writing, reading it feels like having those conversations with your most entertaining friend who also happens to be an expert in substance abuse research, education, and child development.”
— David Epstein, bestselling Author of The Sports Gene and Range
About
CPS Lectures is a free discussion series that takes place every few months in San Francisco. It is a program of the nonprofit The diaTribe Foundation. The series honors the memory of Cyril Patrick Shaughnessy, Jr., Kelly's father, who died in late 2002 and loved discussions and learning.
RSVP required for this free event. You will be given a chance to donate to our nonprofit, The diaTribe Foundation, when you register - this is completely optional. Thank you to all those who have given to date, which has been very generous and has helped enormously to offset the cost of drinks and food, occasional air tickets to speakers, and low-key management of the event.
If you RSVP yes and have to cancel, please do so within 24 hours of our event.