2022-2023 Season
The 2022-2023 Neilly Author Series season is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the University of Rochester's Department of Psychiatry. The books highlighted in this year's Neilly talks support key concepts in the biopsychosocial model—developed by University professors George Engel and John Romano to serve as the cornerstone of psychiatric education and training.

Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew, Just Health

Date: December 7, 2022
Time: 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hawkins-Carlson Room, Rush Rhees or Virtually, on Zoom
The Neilly Author Series is pleased to bring Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, PhD to Rochester for the third Neilly Author Series lecture. The University of Rochester Psychiatry Department, home of the biopsychosocial model, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and to commemorate the occasion, Dayna is invited to bring her insight, research, and conclusions on her most recent book: Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America.
Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, PhD, is the Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law at the George Washington (GW) University Law School. In her talk, Matthew will share insights, research, and conclusions from her most recent book Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America.
Matthew is a leader in public health and civil rights law who focuses on disparities in health, health care, and the social determinants of health. She is the author of the bestselling book Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care and has written numerous articles and book chapters on health and antitrust law topics that have appeared in the Virginia Law Review, the Georgetown Journal of Law, and the American Journal of Law and Medicine, among others.
Matthew joined GW Law in 2022. She previously served on the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was co-founder and inaugural director of The Equity Center.

Gitanjali Rao, A Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM

Date: January 23, 2023
Time: 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hawkins-Carlson Room, Rush Rhees or Virtually, on Zoom
Gitanjali Rao An author, inventor, scientist, engineer, and STEM advocate, 17 year old Gitanjali Rao will be discussing her book A Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM, which gives students and educators an approach to the kinds of problems that old tools and techniques won’t solve.
Rao has many credits to her name including TIME’s first-ever “Kid of the Year,” a place on Forbes “30 Under 30” list, and America’s Top Young Scientist, a title she earned by winning the Young Scientist Challenge by Discovery Education and 3M.
As an innovator, Rao received a Presidential Environmental Protection Agency award for the “Tethys,” an early lead-detection tool. She is also the inventor of “Epione,” a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction, and “Kindly,” an anti-cyberbullying service using Al and Natural Language processing. Rao is currently conducting research on early detection of pathogens at the Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard.
About Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly

In a wonderful millennium gift, Life Trustee Andrew H. Neilly and his wife, Janet, established a named, endowed library position at the University of Rochester with a $1 million gift. The Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries Endowment is used by the dean to support library programs designed to contribute to the intellectual life of the University and to enhance the libraries' collections related to academic initiatives. With this purpose, the Neilly Series was established in 2001.
The libraries have been the focus of Andy Neilly's interest at the University for many years. During the University's Campaign for the '90s, Andy and his co-chair and good friend, Jack Keil, raised several million dollars in support of the libraries.
A graduate of the Class of 1947, Andy had a distinguished career in the field of publishing, serving as president, CEO, and vice chairman of the board of John Wiley & Sons in New York City before his retirement in 1995. Both he and Janet grew up in Rochester. Janet attended William Smith College and Northwestern University. She is a founder of Connecticut Hospice.
Andy has noted on many occasions:
The library is the key to the University. It is the center for everything else that happens here.