Mary Poffenroth

Dr. Mary Poffenroth, is a biopsychologist and fear/courage researcher known for turning complex neuroscience into practical tools that high performing organizations can apply immediately. Her work helps teams become more courageous, more adaptable, and more resilient without adding another burdensome initiative to the calendar. Dr. Poffenroth translates science into evidence based neurohacks to help modern professionals regulate their nervous systems, reduce unhelpful threat responses, and act with courage and clarity under pressure – in the moment, not years from now – in easy to learn and easy to enjoy formats.

A first-generation college student, she began her career in the astrobiology unit at NASA Ames Moffett Field, supporting payload experiments for STS-107, the 28th flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. Backed by one of the world’s largest publishers, her award-winning book, "Brave New You: Strategies, Tools, and Neurohacks to Live More Courageously Every Day," offers readers an innovative solution for moving past stifling everyday fear and into a life filled with brave choices that result in transformational outcomes.

Dr. Poffenroth holds a doctorate in psychology and three master's degrees (biology, psychology, and science communication) and has taught nearly 20,000 university students as biology faculty at San Jose State University since 2007. A Salzburg Global Fellow, she has spoken at TEDNext and TEDx London, Harvard, Stanford, SXSW, Google X Labs, San Francisco’s Exploratorium, Imperial College London, Zoom, VMware Explore, the London Science Museum, and INBOUND. At the same time, her work is consistently featured in prestigious print outlets like TIME magazine, Forbes, Science, Entrepreneur, the Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Newsweek, SUCCESS Magazine, SELF, Men’s Health UK, and Fast Company.