Fr. Roy Pereira, S.J.

Fr. Roy Pereira, S.J.

Fr. Roy Pereira is the Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President Student Affairs in charge of Wellness on campus. He teaches Neuroscience in the Post-Doctoral Professional Psychology program. Previously, he held the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Chair at Creighton University and was teaching in the School of Medicine. Prior to arriving at Creighton, he was Vice-Principal (Academics) and Head, Department of Chemistry at St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai serving for over two decades. He established an innovative programme in Neuroscience for undergraduates and as Director of International Programs got many US universities to send their students to St. Xavier’s. He was awarded two research fellowships spending time at Berkeley and St. Louis University. One aspect of his research covers the effects of cell phones, internet usage and social media on the brain for which he was invited by Google Headquarters, Mountain View, CA to speak to their employees. His research also involves the understanding of the Mind-Body Link, the effect of meditation on health outcomes, the placebo effect, neuro feedback and ways of dealing with stress in our lives. In this connection he was invited by Harvard University in January 2017. His coedited book, The Human Soul in a world of the Neurological Sciences is now available on Amazon. His new book, Uncertain Times: Wellness Strategies from Neuroscience & Ignatius is just out.

            He has Master’s degrees in Chemistry, Theology and Philosophy with a Ph.D. from Boston College in the interdisciplinary areas of Chemistry, Neuroscience and Consciousness. He has been invited to speak on various topics in US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand including doing a TEDx talk. His presentations are interactive, and he strives to explain complex concepts from Neuroscience in easy-to-understand ways using multimedia, music, and the piano. He has a sizeable presence on YouTube with a mix of videos on academic matters as well as music, including his own compositions.