Sahar Yousef

Dr. Sahar Yousef is a cognitive neuroscientist and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. Yousef earned a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from UC Berkeley, where she developed cognitive training protocols to improve executive function in both healthy individuals and those with traumatic brain injuries. She has conducted Department of Defense research on neuroplasticity, focusing on improving memory, attention, and overall human performance.

Yousef specializes in applying neuroscience research to enhance productivity, innovation, wellness, and talent retention in organizations. She teaches the MBA course "Becoming Superhuman: The Science of Productivity and Performance," which focuses on helping professionals increase efficiency and reduce stress. Outside academia, Yousef is the founder and managing director of Becoming Superhuman, a productivity training and consulting firm that works with professionals to optimize work performance.

Yousef has been featured as a scientist in the Headspace wellbeing app and produced a video series with John Legend on the science of music and its effects on focus, sleep, and emotions. She has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the top management thinkers and her work has appeared in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC, and The New York Times.

Yousef has delivered more than 750 talks and keynotes to knowledge workers in over 50 countries and has advised executive teams at Fortune 100 companies including Google, Visa, and NVIDIA. She has also been invited to speak to the U.S. Congress and the Saudi Arabian government. Yousef is known for translating complex neuroscience concepts into practical strategies for modern work environments, emphasizing the gap between scientific understanding of the brain and current work culture.