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Brain Friends
Brain Friends: The Podcast is a survivor-led show about stroke, brain health, aphasia, recovery, and health equity.
Hosted by Angie Cauthorn, a two-time stroke survivor and aphasia advocate, Brain Friends takes complicated medical and research topics and turns them into everyday clarity. The show is for survivors, care partners, families, clinicians, researchers, and anyone trying to understand what life after stroke can really look like.
Brain Friends began with me and my friend and co-host, Dr. D. Seles Gadson, a neuroscientist, speech-language pathologist, and champion for equity in aphasia care. Dr. Seles’s work focused on health disparities, representation, and making science useful for real communities. Her voice still opens and closes every episode, and her legacy remains part of the show’s foundation.
Since launching in June 2022, Brain Friends has reached listeners in more than 100 countries, with conversations that center stroke recovery, aphasia, cognition, communication, prevention, brain health, and the real-life “now what?” after a neurological event.
Regular segments include:
The Breakdown: Clear explanations of stroke, aphasia, brain health, research, and recovery topics.
Smart Cookie: The thoughtful question Angie asks guests about brain health, recovery, equity, or what they wish more people understood.
OTC with the Commish: “On The Clock” style recovery talk, where Angie uses football draft energy to break down the moves, tools, and first-round picks that matter.
The Check-In: Short, honest reflections on life after stroke, recovery, advocacy, and what comes next.
Brain Friends is not here to give medical advice or empty inspiration. It is here to make the science clearer, the recovery road less lonely, and the next step easier to see.
Welcome to Brain Friends.
Brain Friends
Aphasia Recovery Tips from Professional Athletes: Performance, Mindset, and Rehab
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What do stroke survivors with aphasia and elite professional athletes have in common? More than you think. Angie Cauthorn and Dr. Seles apply five performance principles from professional sports ,training consistency, mental resilience, rest and recovery, nutrition, and coaching directly to aphasia rehabilitation after stroke. The result is a practical, evidence-informed framework for survivors who want to approach recovery with the same intention a professional athlete brings to their training. For PWA, care partners, and SLPs looking for new ways to motivate long-term rehabilitation engagement , this episode reframes what recovery can look like.
https://aphasiaadvocates.com/ for Brain Friends Merch
https://aphasia.org/event/ask-the-expert-february-2026/
https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles
https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/
Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. ...
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