Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Carl Eisdorfer is the Director of the Center on Aging at the University of Miami School of Medicine; and Co-Director of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement. He has authored over 315 scientific articles primarily in aging. He has served as President of the Gerontological Society of America, the American Society on Aging, and the American Federation of Aging Research. Dr. Eisdorfer received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University and his M.D. and Psychiatric training from Duke University.

Dr. Joaquin Fuster is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Brain Research Institute of University of California at Los Angeles’ School of Medicine. Fuster’s long research career has had wide-ranging implications for our understanding of the brain mechanisms of cognition.

Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg is SharpBrains Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor. Dr. Goldberg is an author, scientist, educator and clinician, internationally renowned for his clinical work, research, writings and teaching in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. He is a Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine, and Diplomate of The American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Neuropsychology. A student and close associate of the great neuropsychologist Alexander Luria, Dr. Goldberg has continued to advance Luria’s scientific and clinical tradition, and written popular science books such as The Executive Brain and The Wisdom Paradox. In-depth interview available here.

Dr. Kenneth Kosik is the Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara. From 1980 until 2005 he held various appointments at the Harvard Medical School where he became Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience in 1996. He has received a Whitaker Health Sciences Award from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Metropolitan Life Foundation Medical Award, the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award from the American Neurological Association, the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, and a NASA Group Achievement Award to the Neurolab Science Team.

Dr. Arthur Kramer is a Professor in the University of Illinois Department of Psychology, the Campus Neuroscience Program, the Beckman Institute, and the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the University of Illinois. He has published multiple studies and meta-analyses on the cognitive and structural effect of physical and mental exercise, and was one of the researchers who developed Space Fortress. In-depth interview available here.

Baba Shiv is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Stanford Business School. His research is in the area of consumer decision making and decision neuroscience, with specific emphasis on the role of emotion in decision making, the neurological bases of emotion, and nonconscious mental processes in decision making. His recent work examines the potential for nonconscious placebo effects related to pricing and the empirical validity of the adage, “Eating Whets the Appetite,”. An Associate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research and on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Psychology and the Journal of Marketing Research, Professor Shiv has also served as a consultant for several marketing, law and investment firms.

Dr. Robert Sylwester is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oregon, interested in the educational implications of new developments in science and technology. He is the author of several books and many journal articles. His most recent book is The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy. The Education Press Association of America has given him two Distinguished Achievement Awards for his syntheses of cognitive science research, published in Educational Leadership. In-depth interview available here.

Business Advisory Board

Dr. Sam Goldstein is a faculty member at the University of Utah School of Medicine and on staff at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute. Dr. Goldstein has authored twenty-two texts, numerous book chapters and peer reviewed research articles. He currently serves as Editor of the Journal of Attention Disorders and sits on the editorial boards of five peer reviewed journals.

Susan Hoffman launched the San Francisco State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and now leads the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC-Berkeley. Susan is a Board member of Gateway High School. For many years, she ran a performing arts venue at Fort Mason Center and represented arts organizations in Sacramento and Washington as the state’s arts advocate.

Robin Klaus is the Chairman of Club One Fitness Centers. His experience encompasses executive management positions including president and chief operating officer of fitness manufacturer Star Trac, current chairman of Planet Fitness, and former chairman of American Sports Institute. Mr. Klaus currently serves on the board of directors of Napa Sonoma Summer Search. Mr. Klaus holds a bachelor’s in international relations from American University, a master’s in international economics from University of Pittsburgh and a master’s in business administration from Stanford.

Nataliya Riabokon is President and CEO of Uvarta, Inc. Prior to founding Uvarta, Nataliya founded, built and led Lohika Systems. Prior to Lohika, Nataliya held several executive management positions at Ernst & Young, and developed a significant private equity and venture capital experience in the US and the UK. Nataliya is a member of the Growing Entrepreneurs Mentoring Program administered by the Committee of 200, a national organization of prominent women business executives. Nataliya holds an MBA from Stanford Business School.

Mark Shaw is a marketing executive who has been involved in the creation, development or launch of several online and offline consumer brands. He was part of the team that built Marie Callender’s into a retail supermarket brand. Next, he conceived of and developed Netgrocer, the first national online supermarket. Mark received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from Stanford University.

Iwan Streichenberger is President of Edusoft and Corporate Vice President of Houghton Mifflin. Iwan began his career in 1996 as an investment banker at Credit Suisse First Boston. In 1997, he was named business controller and chief technology officer at L’Oreal South Africa. In 1999, he joined Boston Consulting Group as a senior associate. He left BCG to become chief financial officer and vice president of business development at Flipside Europe, a Vivendi Universal Publishing company, where he was appointed chief operating officer in 2001.