“Passion as Playtime — Why Loving What We Do Can Save Us” — J. Drew Lanham, PhD
Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Master Teacher and Certified Wildlife Biologist – Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department. Clemson University.

His published writings — “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature,” “Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts,” and numerous essays and articles — chronicle his experience as a Black man raised in South Carolina with a fascination for wild places and the feathered creatures that inhabit them.

The second annual “Health & PLAY” Institute features sessions by leading healthcare professionals and researchers examining the synergies between play and health.

Speakers include:

• Michael Suk, MD, Chief Physician Officer
  Geisinger System Services
• Brooke Buckley, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital
• Stuart Brown, MD, Founder of the National Institute for Play
• Deborah A. Cohen, MD, Research Scientist, Kaiser Permanente Research and Evaluation
• Meghan Talarowski, PLA, , ASLA, CPSI, Founder and Executive Director, Studio Ludo
• Matthew Browning, PhD, Asst Professor & Director of the Virtual Reality & Nature Lab, Clemson University

Learn more about the presentations…

Four incredible thought leaders tackle the 2022 theme, THE NATURE OF PLAY, for our annual Power PLAYer Panel:

• Fran Mainella – Chair Emeritus, US Play Coalition & Former National Park Service Director – “The Value of Play”
• Debora Wisneski, PhD, University of Nebraska at Omaha & past-president of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) – “The Nature of Play in Education”
• Deepti Adlakha, PhD – Director of the Natural Learning Initiative, NC State University – “A Call to Action – Designing for Outdoor Play and Healthy Childhoods”
• Sarah Milligan-Toffler – President & CEO of the Children & Nature Network – “Nature Play Spaces – Transforming Cities into Centers of Well-Being”