Brandeis Magazine

Michael Wilberton, IBS MSF’01, is chief financial officer at radius financial group, a mortgage lender in Norwell, Massachusetts. Vatsala Thirumalai, PhD’02, was one of 12 researchers who earned the 2020 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of India’s highest science awards. Vatsala’s research focuses on neural circuits that control movement during development and adulthood in animals. Her doctoral work at Brandeis was in neuroscience. Medani Bhandari, Heller MA’04, celebrated the publication of two books in 2020: “Green Web-II” and “Getting the Climate Science Facts Right.” Rachel Cama Nemer, MFA’05, has been giving cello lessons via Zoom and Skype throughout the pandemic. She is a teacher at Pennsylvania’s Settlement Music School and Maplewood Music School. Thomas Broussard, Heller PhD’06, P’02, in 2020 welcomed the publication of his fourth book, “The ABCs of Aphasia: A Stroke Primer.” There are approximately 2.5 million people with aphasia in the United States. About 25% to 40% of those who have a stroke acquire the condition, which affects one’s ability to communicate. Thomas had his first stroke in 2011 when he was an associate dean at Heller. He writes, “The effects of my aphasia were that I could not read, write or speak well. It took me years to regain my language, and I’m here to tell you it can be done.”