Theodore Walrond (Rex) is a University of Florida neuroscience graduate from the Tampa Bay area. He speaks about two things he knows firsthand: making sense of scientific evidence, and working in demanding outdoor environments.

As a researcher at UF's McKnight Brain Institute from 2022 to 2023, he worked through more than 300 studies on subarachnoid hemorrhage and Alzheimer's disease and helped turn them into a framework the team used to plan its next experiments. A summer at Romark Laboratories in Tampa in 2021 had him tracking COVID-19 drug candidates as new trial data arrived.

Outside the lab, he was a divemaster and teaching assistant for UF's Scientific Diving Program from 2020 to 2023, helping students from Open Water through Master Diver. He has climbed Mount Rainier with International Mountain Guides and backpacked the John Muir Trail, the Teton Crest Trail and Glacier National Park.

Topics he can speak to: reading conflicting research without getting lost in it; what teaching scuba teaches you about leading a group; preparing for a first big mountain.

He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he is working on a new company in consumer health. More at theodorewalrond.com and rexwalrond.com.