Vivienne Ming

Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Socos Labs and Board Member, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Vivienne Ming explores maximizing human capacity as a theoretical neuroscientist, delusional inventor, and demented author. Over her career she’s founded six startups and been chief scientist at two others, and she launched the “mad science incubator” at Socos Labs, where she explores seemingly intractable problems—from a lone child’s disability to global economic inclusion—for free. As the co-founder and chief scientist of Dionysus Health, she applies machine learning to lessen the corrosive health effects of chronic stress in communities. She also develops tools for learning at home and in school and TBI, models of bias in hiring and promotion, and neurotechnologies to treat dementia, an outgrowth of her research at UC Berkeley's Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. In her free time, Ming designs AI systems to treat her son’s diabetes, predict manic episodes in bipolar sufferers, and reunite orphan refugees with extended family members. For relaxation, she writes science fiction and spends time with her wife and children. Ming was named one of 10 women to watch in tech by Inc. and one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2017. She is featured frequently for her research and inventions in the Financial Times, The Atlantic, Quartz, and the New York Times.