On episode 53 of A Chat with Uma, I sit down with Dr. Rachel Wurzman—a neuroscientist, neuroethicist, therapist, and lived-experience advocate whose story is as nonlinear and multidimensional as the brain itself. Growing up with Tourette’s, OCD, ADHD, and dyscalculia, Rachel learned early what it meant to be brilliant and struggling at the same time. She survived by embracing creativity and theater, channeling her tics and differences into performance and expression, and refusing to flatten herself to fit the mold. In this first half of our conversation, she takes us inside that journey—of identity, family, diagnosis, and the fierce act of owning her many “parts” instead of hiding them.
What emerges is a narrative about otherness, resilience, and the refusal to amputate pieces of yourself just to belong. Rachel shares how childhood “weirdness” became survival, how her family scaffolded resilience in formative ways, and how creativity and hyperfixations gave her lifelines. She also opens up about what it means to live as a “many-hatted” person—neuroscientist, therapist, innovator, and advocate—while holding all her lived experience at the center. Part 1 is raw, validating, and deeply human. Part 2, coming next week, follows Rachel into her groundbreaking work at the intersections of neuroscience, neuroethics, and innovation.
Topics Discussed (+ Timestamps):
(00:00:00) Introduction & welcome to Dr. Rachel Wurzman!
(00:11:10) Growing up “different”: Tourette’s, ADHD, OCD, and learning to survive as a precocious but struggling kid
(00:20:40) How religion, culture, and identity shaping a childhood of not belonging
(00:31:40) Family resilience: lessons of CBT at the dinner table & early scaffolding that shaped how she coped
(00:36:00) Theater as lifeline: channeling tics into performance, reinventing herself on stage, and finding community through art
(00:42:20) Creativity as survival strategy: hyperfixations, crafting, and the role of “obsessions” in keeping her alive
(00:49:00) Living in parts: discovering IFS, embracing multiplicity, and refusing to amputate pieces of herself
(00:55:20) The turning point: collapsing under the weight of academia & learning to rebuild without losing herself
(01:02:00) Choosing integration over boxes—why Rachel has always been “many-hatted” and what it costs to live that way
(01:17:40) Building community out of survival: co-founding social-health initiatives rooted in lived experience
(01:28:10) Science with responsibility: how neuroethics gave her the language to connect research with humanity
(01:38:50) Reclaiming weirdness as power: why embracing her nonlinear brain became the key to resilience
(01:54:00) Rachel’s reflections of Part 1: resilience, identity, and the possibility of integration
Connect with Dr. Wurzman!
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