Dr. Val & Dr. NedDr. Val & Dr. Ned
Wedding PartyWedding Party
Val RockwellVal Rockwell
Bride
[Written by Ned] Val is a fun, funny, well-liked, intelligent, intellectually curious, sexy, multi-talented doctor who's changed Ned’s life forever - beautifully! A radiologist who began practice at University of Kansas Medical School, where her father was also a physician, Val moved to San Diego in 2008 (same as Ned). The two met in 2010 – and have had an exciting multi-stage journey to the relationship you have been invited to celebrate and usher into its next delightful stages! A self-described “gym rat”, she’s in the gym every single morning. A former fitness competitor, she won 17 trophies over 8 competitions. (Interestingly, she discarded the trophies. For Val competition is not with others but within herself.) She shares loves with Ned for a surprising range of things e.g. specific 80’s and 90’s movies & music, specific countries, frosting as a food group (why even eat the cake?), all things Science, GPT, specific types of sensuality and self-expression, sushi, and tattoos! Moreover, she shares *Love* with Ned - forever. In 2024, Val won “Miss Boston Ink” at the Boston Tattoo Convention. Ned had photographed that show for a decade as a project about the sensual self-expression of body enhancement - so Val’s win is another true “full circle” & fruition! She’s traveled in 65 countries, all continents, living in Ireland, Mexico, & Australia. Val is an incredible dancer, cooks amazing Turkish & other food, is learning Turkish, and is an ideal parent to Kendall!
Ned SahinNed Sahin
Groom
[Written by Val:] Ned is a ridiculously smart, engaging and charismatic neuroscientist from Boston. As it turns out, he is also the funniest man in the entire world, keeping me (Val) laughing all of the time. Ned's vocational interests include helping people with differently-abled brains navigate and succeed in our world. He started a company that utilized augmented reality to allow autistic people to improve social interactions, and he currently leads a software company that helps special education teachers monitor the progress of their students. Ned is a proud Turk, embracing his culture, language, and food. He spent many summers in Turkey -- now Ned, Val, and Kendall find themselves in beautiful Bodrum in the summer. He has also ensured that Kendall is growing up bilingual! Ned is well-traveled, visiting over 60 countries and all 7 continents. He speaks a solid amount of Turkish and French and has lived in England, Ireland, Turkey, and the Philippines. He is creative, inquisitive, and curious. He is as kind as he is handsome. Our wedding invitations were not created by a design house, but designed entirely by Ned -- a true labor of love. This project took countless hours, many all-nighters, and over two months, as he crafted symbols and icons that tell our story and personalized the invitation with the hope that our guests would feel our attention and love. From the envelopes and wax seals to the verbiage, every detail came from Ned's creative soul.
Gwynne ThomasGwynne Thomas
Matron of Honor
Val's younger sister and sidekick for the last 5 decades. Gwynne is the taller, funnier, and more sarcastic of the sisters. She is wildly resourceful and capable, and one of the strongest people Val knows -- resilient in ways that can't always be seen but are felt. Gwynne has raised three amazing, intelligent and thoughtful kids -- Duncan, Marissa and Sabrina will all be in attendance. Gwynne and Val share a dislike of corduroy and black-and-white thinking, but they also share Stargardt macular degeneration. While it's hardly a gift, it's given them a shared language of frustration and hilarity (and makes for some amusing text messaging) Gwynne has lost most of her central vision - so facial recognition is difficult. Please introduce yourself to her! She lives in Kansas City with her husband, Steve.
Mackie WashburnMackie Washburn
Man of Honor
Val's best friend and confidant, who knows where all the bodies are buried. Almost two decades of friendship has seen them through all kinds of territory. Mackie has a wicked sense of humor and is impossibly clever, insightful and wise. He is a (relatively) newly minted yogi and an aspiring ukulele master. Mackie is the friend Val feels she waited a lifetime to meet -- the most true and unwavering companion she's ever known. He's the keeper of secrets, the one who sometimes knows her mind before she's ready to admit it, and the friend she trusts with everything. Their annual Palm Springs retreat sometimes devolves into singing showtimes and almost always involves nachos, but beneath the laughter lies a friendship that has shaped, supported, and anchored Val's life in profound ways. He and Val share a questionable relationship with cheese that might warrant professional intervention. He lives in San Diego with his husband, Donnie.
Tracie HagerTracie Hager
Bridesmaid
Don't let the polished exterior fool you - Tracie is a whip-smart, no-nonsense powerhouse who runs asset management for commercial properties during the day and runs the world the rest of the time. She and Val met only 6 years ago, but she's become one of Val's most trusted confidants. Whether it's brilliant advice, honest feedback or a the perfect one-liner, Tracie always delivers. She and Val are depleting the ocean of ikura and uni, one dinner at a time. She lives in San Diego with her husband, Brad.
Hillari SelbyHillari Selby
Bridesmaid
One of Val's closest friends - they've been causing trouble together for close to a decade. Val has always valued her opinion and advice. Hillari has an unwavering sense of justice and the courage to speak up - not just for herself, but for others. Hillari's talents include expansive online rabbit-hole research, finding a good deal, and throwing cleverly-themed parties. Hillari is a fierce supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and cares deeply about inclusion and representation. She lives in Palm Springs with her husband, Devin.
Victoria StewartVictoria Stewart
Bridesmaid
Victoria and Val met online... no, really! Victoria is an accomplished yogi whom Val followed on Instagram for years, impressed by not only her jaw-dropping strength and skill on the mat but her introspective and passionate posts. When Victoria unexpectedly moved from Sweden to Carlsbad, Val slid into her DMs, and soon they were plotting a champagne brunch. One brunch later, Val had spilled her entire life story, and Victoria's response was basically, "if you can't be yourself around people, what's the point?" Instant friendship! Victoria is outspoken in the best of ways, is wildly fun, and is always up for deep conversations. She swears with the same amount of enthusiasm she brings to yoga -- but let's face it, four-letter words sound better with a Swedish accent. The friends share a love of tattoos, champagne and authenticity. Victoria lives in Carlsbad, hails from Sweden, but her heart is in Costa Rica.
Chris BellChris Bell
Co-Best Man
Ned’s friend for: 31 years. Lives in: Eugene, OR. Chris and Ned met before college even started, on a 5-day wilderness orientation hike for freshmen – and each thought the other was the hike leader! They spent that whole day, and night, talking - out in the purple mountains above Williams College. They call each the Maclean brothers, from shared favorite “River Runs Through It”. They text mostly in rhyme, in almost a private language. Chris’s sense of humor is truly like no other, and he makes everyone feel he is radiating light from the center of his soul directly on them. Professionally, Chris Bell is a preservationist and cultural resources specialist. He blends scholarship with public service: He teaches at U. Oregon (historic preservation, U.S. architectural history, field methods), and works directly for the state to protect archaeological sites, historic bridges, and WPA-era buildings. He balances protecting historic places so communities can understand their cultural heritage, with performing necessary infrastructure renewal. His research and publications have examined topics from Oregon’s mining landscapes to mid-20th-century civic architecture. Whether teaching, writing, or working in the field, Chris is devoted to keeping history visible and ensuring that stories embedded in our built environment are not forgotten. Chris is proud father to two boys, a vegetarian since birth, an athlete of every kind, willing to bike two hours each way to work - in the rain!
Chris Robertson, PhD JDChris Robertson, PhD JD
Co-Best Man
Ned’s friend for: 21 years. Lives in: Cambridge. Chris & Ned met while in doctoral training but in totally different fields (Law vs. Cognitive Neuroscience). Turns out, Harvard lets grad students take a class in any department.. and friendship with Chris is the best thing Ned got out of that class! The two never miss a chance for a hike, mountain bike ride, or intellectual yet humanistic conversation - but always have to coordinate to do so: Almost comically, Ned moved to the west coast while Chris remained east, then Chris moved to the west almost-coast just as Ned moved back east, then Chris moved back east to Boston as Ned moved again to San Diego! Professionally, Chris is a law professor. He is currently a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He is also a tenured professor at Boston University School of Law, and the N. Neal Pike Scholar in Health & Disability Law and Associate Dean for Research & Innovation at the BU School of Public Health. He's an expert on health law, bioethics, institutional design, torts, conflicts of interest, First Amendment, and racial disparities in healthcare. Books include "Exposed: Why Our Health Insurance Is Incomplete and What Can Be Done About It", “Nudging Health: Behavioral Economics and Health Law”, “Blinding as a Solution to Bias”, and “Health Law as Private Law: Pathway or Pathology”. He's published research in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Science; and mainstream e.g. Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Mo Motamedi, PhDMo Motamedi, PhD
Officiant
Ned’s friend for: 20 years. Lives in: Boston. Mo and Ned met on a staircase 20 years ago! It was at a philosophical society meeting, they were going in opposite directions, and somehow they immediately resonated and became fast friends! Since then, they have resonated ever deeper: whether on philosophical or societal debates, electronic dance music, relationships and self-expression ..and in ways they may not even notice or understand - fueled by similar cultural history in their distant pasts. Professionally, Mo is a cancer researcher. He is the James & Patricia Poitras Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Harvard Medical School. His lab studies how cancer cells protect themselves from chemotherapy. Specifically, these cells use a type of “memory” (of which genes to turn on and off) that is not encoded in the DNA. Mo’s team discovered a molecular pathway that cells use to store and pass on this epigenetic “memory”, allowing them to protect themselves from many types of chemotherapy. Mo is bridging the gap between laboratory science to practical tools by using this discovery toward building smarter, longer-lasting treatments that are tailored to the unique vulnerabilities of each patient’s cancer.
Eve Valera, PhDEve Valera, PhD
GroomsWoman
Ned’s friend for: 29 years. Lives in: Quincy, MA. Eve has been like a sister to Ned for 3 decades - and by sister just assume that also includes all the *shizzle* that siblings give each other! They met during Ned’s summer internship as a freshman in college, at the MGH “Center for Morphometric Analysis”. (BTW, don’t let Eve’s professor status fool you - she is an epic pole dancer too!) They have been close confidants and friends and, well, siblings through all of life’s stages. In recent years, she has extended both sibling and friend status to Val wonderfully. Professionally, Eve is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a Research Scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has spent nearly 25 years. Her pioneering (and sobering) research focuses on traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) caused by intimate-partner violence (IPV). She and her lab use advanced brain imaging techniques (including MRI diffusion tensor imaging) and neuropsychological assessments. She has uncovered how repetitive, unseen brain trauma from partner violence impacts memory, cognition, and emotional regulation. Dr. Valera has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, presently reviews for more than 60 journals, and frequently trains clinicians, legal professionals, and frontline responders to raise awareness about this deeply hidden public health crisis. Search for a story about her and her work in NY Times Magazine.
Nathan Wilson, PhDNathan Wilson, PhD
Groomsman
Ned’s friend for: 25 years. Lives in: Belmont, MA. Nathan is the most earnest person you may ever meet!! I met him on day 1 of grad school at MIT -- and we talked through dinner and into that morning, about the future of computers / AI and whether we would even know when a computer suddenly became intelligent or our brain/mind had been uploaded. That future seemed SOOO much further away, those 25 years ago!! We've spent countless nights since "colonizing" any overnight lab, office, or venue to motivate each other to complete respective work -- with breaks to play "Brain Ball"! Nathan Wilson is Co-Founder and CTO of an AI company called Nara Logics. They focus on artificial intelligence built on insights from brain science. With a PhD from MIT & MS from Cornell, Nathan has spent his career modeling how networks of neurons make decisions, and then turning those models into real-world tools. He created Nara's "Synaptic Intelligence Platform", which mimics brain-like logic circuits to make AI systems more transparent, adaptable, and explainable. Unlike “black box” algorithms typical of AI, you can trace how a system reached its conclusions (crucial for healthcare, defense, & financial services). Nathan’s been covered by MIT News, WIRED, etc, and often speaks on "explainable AI" systems that are concretely understandable by humans, and human-aligned. Ask Nathan to explain AI, or to explain or opine on anything: you will get an exuberant, warm, and oh-so-earnest response!
John Williams, EsqJohn Williams, Esq
Groomsman
Ned’s friend for: 31 years. Lives in: Newark, Delaware. “JW” (pronounced “J-Dub”) aka John Legaré Williams, Esquire, is one of the most loyal and dependable friends anyone could have! He and Ned met at the first day of try-outs for the Crew team at Williams college – yes 31 years ago! And when you say it like that, of course one would expect that all of us have lost our taught rower’s physique and frequent, intense workout routine over those years! However, JW has not! He has remained a rower, and rowing coach (in his spare time!), ever since college! He even WON the fabled “Head of the Charles” race one year – and it was a year to remember! Professionally, John Legaré Williams is President of The Williams Law Firm, P.A. in Wilmington, Delaware, which goes back to 1974. For over 15 years, John has built a national reputation in business law, estate planning, and corporate formation, with a particular focus on the complexities of Delaware law. If you need to form a business entity, he is your man. He is widely recognized as an authority on “Series LLCs”, a relatively new and innovative structure that allows multiple businesses or assets to be managed under one umbrella while limiting liability between them. He has had leadership roles with the American Bar Association, including work on drafting the Uniform Series LLC Act, which helps guide business law nationwide. He is also very active in civic organizations and charities, and in the social scene around Delaware.
Slobodan RadomanSlobodan Radoman
Groomsman
Ned’s friend for: 19 years. Lives in: Hong Kong & Montenegro. [description coming soon]
Kendall SahinKendall Sahin
Flower Girl
Kendall will be 5 in September. She speaks fluent Turkish. She is quite the traveler and has already visited far-flung places such as Bhutan, Singapore, and Turkey. She has a positive attitude, a beautiful smile, and makes friends wherever she goes. She loves mermaids, unicorns, and cats.
Travel BearTravel Bear
Ring Bear(er)
Ned gave Val a pink bear one Valentine's Day, and he later described it as an Overflow Love Bear. "we have so much love, that the extra love goes into the bear!" Until one day, he asked Val to check on the bear, as there had been SO much love. Indeed the bear had increased in size with all of the love! Now there is a collective of bears -- The Bearg (Resistance is futile). We have East Bear in Boston, West Bear in Encinitas, Turkey Bear in Bodrum, and Travel Bear, who accompanies us on all of our trips. Additional Bearg members are First Bear, Übear, and Berlin Bear. Travel Bear has graciously accepted the role of Ring Bear for the wedding on behalf of the bearthren.