Welcome to
HeadRoom with Dr. Rod Berger
HeadRoom explores deep into the minds of those on the frontiers of our society.
Uncovering the ‘why’ behind acclaimed contributors forging their path through life and those new souls just stepping beyond the crowd.
Investigating the source of inspiration that drove those who have gone before us, Headroom hopes to inspire the ‘next’ in us.
Join Dr. Rod Berger, PsyD, uncover the stories seldom told and add richness to the narratives within our own lives.
Connect with Dr. Berger below
Latest Episodes ⬇️
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley today, a former NBA player known as “The Round Mound of Rebound”. Charles Barkley is one of the NBA’s most dominant rebounders. In the 1986-87 series, Barkley led the season with the highest rebound average earning him his first NBA rebound title.
Barkley then went on to compete in two Olympic games for the USA in basketball, earning gold medals in both. He retired in 2000 as the fourth player in NBA history to achieve 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists. Only 3 more players in the last 22 years have joined the elusive 20k/10k/4k club.
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri is a Singer, Songwriter, Rapper, Record Produce, Entrepreneur, DJ, and Record Executive. What can’t this man do? He talks to me today about his story. From being on tour at 12 years old, to going door-to-door to offer lawn mowing services, all the way to being inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Byju & Divya
Last year I had the opportunity to spend time with Byju & Divya. I share their first names because they are becoming the leaders of global education as a power couple and leadership of the ever-growing BYJUs.
I had readers ask to hear the story, so I decided to go down memory lane and read the original Forbes article for HeadRoom. I hope you enjoy it! –Rod
Dr. Terence Tao the “Mozart of Math”
A MacArthur Fellow and Fields Medal winner, Terence Tao, Ph.D., was studying university-level math by age 9. The Australian mathematician known as the most accomplished mathematician in the world received the Fields Medal in 2006 “for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory.” Tao now has his own MasterClass to teach the masses what it is like to be in his mind.
Irshad Manji
A behind-the-scenes conversation that spurred the recent Forbes article, Corporate First Responders Go Back To School
Irshad is the founder of the Moral Courage Network. A prize-winning leadership professor at New York University for many years, she now teaches with the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.
The recipient of Oprah’s “Chutzpah Award” for boldness, Irshad is also a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest book is Don’t Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars. (Fun fact: Chris Rock calls the book “genius.” Another fun fact: Not everybody agrees with Chris Rock.)
Ellen Sigal
Ellen V. Sigal, PhD, is Chairperson and Founder of Friends of Cancer Research (Friends). Friends is an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC that drives collaboration among partners from every healthcare sector to power advances in science, policy, and regulation that speed life-saving treatments to patients. For more than two decades, Friends has been instrumental in the creation and implementation of policies ensuring patients receive the best treatments in the fastest and safest way possible.
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Dr. Sigal is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Reagan-Udall Foundation, a partnership designed to modernize medical product development, accelerate innovation and enhance product safety in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She serves on the Board of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, where she chairs its Public Private Partnerships Committee.
In 2010, Dr. Sigal was appointed to the inaugural Board of Governors of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as a representative of patients and health consumers and was recently reappointed to another six-year term.
Additionally, in 2016 Dr. Sigal was named to Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel, to the Parker Institute for Immunotherapy Advisory Group and joined the inaugural board of advisors for the George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health.
She also holds leadership positions with a broad range of cancer advocacy, public policy organizations and academic health centers including: MD Anderson Cancer Center External Advisory Board, the Duke University Cancer Center Board of Overseers, and The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center Advisory Council.
