NECSS 2010 Speakers
The 2010 line-up of speakers and panelists includes:
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James Randi
 James Randi has an international reputation as a magician and escape artist, but today he is best known as the world's most tireless investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water "with a memory," and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1986. On October 19, 1993, the PBS-TV "NOVA" program broadcast a one-hour special dealing with Randi's life work, particularly with his investigations of Uri Geller and various occult and healing claims being made by scientists in Russia. He is the author of numerous books, including The Truth About Uri Geller, The Faith Healers, Flim-Flam!, and An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. His lectures and television appearances have delighted — and vexed — audiences around the world. In 1996, the James Randi Education Foundation was established to further Randi's work. Randi's long-standing challenge to psychics now stands as a $1,000,000 prize administered by the Foundation. It remains unclaimed.
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DJ Grothe
 D.J. Grothe is President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, the international educational non-profit founded by celebrated social critic and activist James Randi. Grothe has lectured widely on topics at the intersection of education, science and belief at universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and dozens of others. Formerly a professional magician, he has special interests in the psychology of belief and processes of deception and self-deception.
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Jamy Ian Swiss
 Jamy Ian Swiss is a magician, author, and public speaker with more than twenty years of skeptical activism experience. He has appeared internationally for presenters ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the Smithsonian Institution. His U.S. television appearances include CBS 48 Hours, Comedy Central, PBS Nova and the PBS documentary The Art of Magic, and repeat appearances on The Today Show. He is the author of books including a collection of essays entitled Shattering Illusions, and The Art of Magic. He has produced and written for television, including Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, and created the Discovery Channel special, Cracking the Con Games. He is producer of New York’s longest-running Off-Broadway magic show, Monday Night Magic, now in its 12th consecutive year. Jamy is a founder of the National Capital Area Skeptics; a founder of the New York City Skeptics; has spoken and performed across the U.S. on behalf of the Center for Inquiry; has been a contributor to Skeptic magazine; and he has presented or performed annually at James Randi's "The Amaz!ng Meeting" since its inception.
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Steve Novella
 Dr. Steve Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the president and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society. He is also the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. The NeuroLogicaBlog covers news and issues in neuroscience, but also general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. Dr. Novella also contributes every Sunday to The Rogues Gallery, the official blog of the SGU, every Monday to SkepticBlog, and every Wednesday to Science-Based Medicine, a blog dedicated to issues of science and medicine.
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George Hrab
 Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, skeptic, podcaster, producer, composer and heliocentrist George Hrab has written and produced six independent CDs; published one book; performed for President Clinton; and is considered one of the preeminent skeptic/science/atheist/geek-culture music icons currently living in his apartment.
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Steve Mirsky
 Steve Mirsky developed the weekly Scientific American podcast, the magazine’s foray into web-based broadcasting. He hosts the program, called Science Talk: The Weekly Podcast of Scientific American, and launched the daily Scientific American podcast, 60-Second Science, which he produces and often hosts. The programs were nominated for a 2007 Webby Award, recognizing the best of the internet. Mirsky has written the humorous Anti Gravity column for Scientific American since 1995 and is a member of the magazine’s board of editors. He has contributed to numerous publications and broadcast outlets, including Audubon, Wildlife Conservation, National Wildlife, Earth, Longevity, The Humanist, and other periodicals. Mirsky received a Master’s Degree in chemistry from Cornell University in 1985, after which he was awarded a Mass Media fellowship by the American Association for the Advancement of Science which was the start of his media career. Mirsky was awarded science journalism fellowships at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and he received a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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David Gorski
 David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS is a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute specializing in breast cancer surgery, where he also serves as the American College of Surgeons Committee on Cancer Liaison Physician as well as an Associate Professor of Surgery and member of the faculty of the Graduate Program in Cancer Biology at Wayne State University. Dr. Gorski first became interested in pseudoscience and “alternative” medicine around 2000, when quite by accident he wandered into the Usenet newsgroup misc.health.alternative and began critically examining the claims there. Since then, he has accumulated considerable experience refuting quackery and pseudoscience online. He has blogged under a pseudonym, producing what is consistently ranked as one of the top ten medical blogs, and is a Managing Editor for the Science-Based Medicine blog, joining other skeptical doctors to discuss science- and evidence-based medicine (SEBM) for a broad audience.
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Val Jones
 Val Jones, M.D., was born in Greenwich, Conn., and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada. She completed her bachelor's degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a master's degree at Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas. She also participated in several research projects in biomedical imaging and vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She attended medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and was a regular contributor to the medical student section of The Journal of the American Medical Association. She received a scholarship to conduct research in the department of plastic surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, as well as did a summer research fellowship in pediatric surgery at the University of Southern California, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. She also completed research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in its Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Jones was the principal investigator of several clinical trials relating to sleep, diabetes and metabolism, and she won first place in the Peter Cyrus Rizzo III research competition. She has worked part-time as a food critic in New York City, a medical cartoonist and Chief Resident of Rehabilitation Medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. Dr. Jones is an award-winning writer and the author of "Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason," which was nominated for two Medical Weblog Awards for 2007: Best Medical Blog and Best New Medical Blog on the Internet. Her cartoons have been featured at Medscape and the Placebo Journal, and she leads an online weight-loss community at Revolution Health.io.
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John Snyder
 John Snyder, M.D., is Chief of the Section of General Pediatrics and Medical Director of Pediatric Ambulatory Care at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. He is also Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College. Since 1994 Dr. Snyder has been active in pediatric resident and medical student education with a particular interest in evidence based pediatrics. He is a contributor to the Science Based Medicine blog and Gotham Skeptic blog. His main area of interest is medical myths and the ways in which parents utilize information in making medical decisions for their children. He lectures frequently on the subject of vaccine myths and misinformation to both academic and community settings.
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Kimball Atwood
Kimball Atwood IV, M.D. is a practicing anesthesiologist who is also board-certified in internal medicine, and is an Associate Editor of the Science-Based Medicine blog. He had been interested in pseudoscience for years, but became active in 2000 after a nursing conference at his own hospital advocated Therapeutic Touch, Guided Imagery, and several other implausible practices as effective treatments for pleural mesothelioma. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners, and subsequently wrote its Minority Report opposing licensure for naturopaths. Dr. Atwood is an associate editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and co-editor of Naturowatch. He has written many articles and treatises on implausible medical claims, among which are several concerning naturopathy. He has provided expert opinion to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine regarding non-standard practices. He is particularly concerned with implausible claims being promoted, tacitly or otherwise, by medical schools and government. He is also dubious about the ethics of human trials of such claims.
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Rebecca Watson
 Rebecca Watson leads a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org, co-hosts the weekly podcast The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, produces pin-up calendars of scientists and skeptics, and attempts to rock harder each year. She currently lives in London where she works as a freelance writer in order to fund her hardcore skepticism habit. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. She does nothing in moderation and hopes it shows.
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Jay Novella
Jay Novella is an SGU panelist, blogger, and a skeptical satirist who lends his unique wry perspective on all things wacky and weird.
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Evan Bernstein
Evan Bernstein is the co-host of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe and is the producer and co-host of The Skeptics Guide 5x5 weekly science podcasts. He posts a blog each Monday at The Rogues Gallery, the official blog of the SGU. Evan serves as the Connecticut Chapter Chairman for The New England Skeptical Society. He is also a technical adviser for official NESS investigations, and has been an active participant in the skeptical movement since 1996. Evan's profession is in television production, and he holds a BA in Communications from Central Connecticut State University.
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Bob Novella
Bob Novella is a cofounder and Vice-President of the New England Skeptical Society. He has written numerous articles that are widely published in the skeptical literature and has a special interest in physics and astronomy, their abuse by pseudoscientists, and methods of self-deception.
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