In 1993, I was hit by a car as I crossed the street. As a result, I had two brain surgeries, one on each side. My neurosurgeon was always positive about my health. But all the rest thought I had no future and would spend my life in rehab. They said the brain cannot heal. That recovery from brain injury was very difficult. But I stubbornly recovered. By 2016, I had tons of confidence as a chair-holding professor in a law school. Then a stranger tried to murder me, knocking me to the ground as I was out for an afternoon walk. That too was a terrible experience. The second time through, I knew how to survive and recover. I believed I would recover even though no one else did. I was aware of my own brain’s activities. Brain injury leads to so many challenges that our supporters must be positive about our body’s possibilities every single moment. I learned from my athletic coach that professional athletes are injured all the time. They know they have to wait, work, and recover. And they do. So too with brain injury. No one thought I could recover because my MRI slides are abominable. Yet here I am a Ph.D. J.D. who still knows how to use my brain to read and think and teach, just as athletes heal other parts of their bodies so they can play their sport. I ask the neuroscientists if they think the technology about my brain tells you everything you need to know? Or is there a stubborn, intellectual me whom you should not underestimate? In this super technological era, how do you combine watching my technology with healing me?

Leslie Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, torts, law and religion, and bioethics, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Practicing Bioethics Law (3d ed. 2026) is co-authored with Joan H. Krause, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She recently presented and published The Brain, Neuroethics, and Bioethics at the University of North Carolina Law Review’s Legal & Ethical Implications of Neuroscience Conference. She wrote the book chapter, Bambi Trauma—Surviving TBI Twice, in Traumatic Brain Injury—Challenges (Dr. Ioannis Mavroudis & Alin Ciobica, eds., IntechOpen, 2024), https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1179800#. She has submitted numerous amicus briefs on law and religion and employees’ rights to the Supreme Court of the United States.