The secret to a high-powered, innovative environment is a sense of belonging.
Most organizations want to build a culture where people can do their best work, but unspoken biases and social differences can get in the way.
When some individuals feel dismissed or unable to show up fully, it affects everyone.
Belonging isn’t just a concern for a few.
When differences turn into subtle exclusion, we all pay the cost: lower morale, missed potential, and avoidable conflict.
Our workshops draw from neuroscience, research, and lived experience to explore how bias forms, how it plays out, and what it takes to transcend bias to build belonging.
These sessions aren’t about blame.
They’re about building shared language, practicing new skills, and making space to support honest conversation. The goal is to move from tension or silence toward a culture where people feel respected and able to contribute fully.
Together, we can create a work culture where everyone has the chance to thrive.
Meet Your Lead Facilitators
Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale and Director of the Center for Collective Healing at Howard University. He also teaches meditation, yoga, and music, and co-founded Renaissance Entertainment, Mefreely, and Brain, Bias, and Being—projects that blend science, art, and community to support social change.
AZA Allsop MD, PhD
AZA Allsop, MD, PhD is an artist, neuroscientist, and psychiatrist whose work explores the connections between social cognition, music, mindfulness, and psychedelics. He leads the AZA Laboratory, where he studies how these tools shape group dynamics, ease mental suffering, and help communities navigate polarization and conflict.
Dr. Allsop studied Biology, Philosophy, and Jazz Studies at North Carolina Central University. He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and his PhD in Neuroscience from MIT. He was also an Emerson Scholar at Berklee College of Music. He completed his psychiatry residency at Yale, where he served as co-chief resident of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit.
Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale and Director of the Center for Collective Healing at Howard University. He also teaches meditation, yoga, and music, and co-founded Renaissance Entertainment, Mefreely, and Brain, Bias, and Being—projects that blend science, art, and community to support social change.
AZA Allsop & Bruce Birren appearing at Music For the Collective: An Interactive Performance and Healing Experience
The Kennedy Center
January 15, 2025
Bruce Birren, PhD
Bruce Birren is an Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he directs the Genomic Center for Infectious Diseases. A leader in genome research, he has contributed to major scientific efforts including the Human Genome Project and the Human Microbiome Project.
His research includes scholarship on mentorship and curriculum for leadership development. He facilitates workshops that help individuals, groups and institutions strengthen mentorship and build more inclusive cultures, focusing on cultural awareness and communication.
Bruce spent five years leading workshops on culturally aware mentorship for faculty advisors of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Gilliam Graduate Fellows, and co-developed the leadership development program for the Gilliam Fellows.
He’s a Principal Facilitator with the National Research Mentoring Network and the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, Co-director of the Core for Mentorship Excellence at Harvard Medical School, and holds certificates from the Social Justice Training Institute and the Social Justice Mediation Institute. He and AZA were faculty for the inaugural ABRCMS Leadership Academy.
Bruce spent five years leading workshops on culturally aware mentorship for faculty advisors of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Gilliam Graduate Fellows, and co-developed the leadership development program for the Gilliam Fellows.
He’s a Principal Facilitator with the National Research Mentoring Network and the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, Co-director of the Core for Mentorship Excellence at Harvard Medical School, and holds certificates from the Social Justice Training Institute and the Social Justice Mediation Institute. He and AZA were faculty for the inaugural ABRCMS Leadership Academy.
