Dr. Lori Russell-Chapin gets very excited when talking about the brain. A professor and associate dean at Bradley University, her passion for esoteric topics like neurofeedback drives her work as co-director of Bradley’s Center for Collaborative Brain Research. With her husband Ted, she also operates Chapin & Russell Associates, a private counseling agency. Widely published and the recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Russell-Chapin’s passion speaks through her work and approach to life.
- What’s the best thing about being you? I love to laugh, and I can generally find the positive in everything. My mom always said, “Look for the silver lining in every cloud,” and I do.
- What is your proudest moment? Our children are 18 and 20 years old now. In the past several weeks, two different individuals have spontaneously told us that they were helpful, good workers and nice people. It doesn’t get any better than that.
- What would you do with a million dollars? It would be so satisfying to start a foundation and offer people a new opportunity to start a unique business or restart their life in some capacity.
What’s your favorite sport? Taekwondo has been a part of my life for almost 15 years. I earned my fourth-degree Black Belt last summer. - What animal are you the most like? I think I am most like a cheetah—long and sleek, always running, and a bit scary!
- What book do you think everyone should read? Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD. I have read it five times now.
- If you could retrieve one item on the way out of your burning house, what would it be? I would want to bring all of our family albums with me.
- What do you consider your greatest achievement? Being married for 25 years to Ted. When we got married, I pressed him to guarantee that he would love me forever. He promised instead to work on our relationship every day. We have done just that.
- What are your quotes to live by? “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” —Helen Keller. “What is to give light must endure the burning.” —Victor Frankl.
- What’s your favorite vacation spot outside of the U.S.? Ted and I watched a sunset in Athens, Greece, with all of the beautiful antiquities reflecting off the Aegean Sea. It was inspiring and humbling to be a small part of a beginning of time. a&s
