Dr. Henry W. Mahncke is a research neuroscientist, who serves as CEO of Posit Science Corporation, the leading provider of plasticitybased brain training and assessments. In 2003, Dr. Mahncke was hired as the first employee of Posit Science to head its research efforts, as VP of Research and Outcomes. He was named CEO in 2011.

Dr. Mahncke did his undergraduate work at Rice University and received his PhD from UCSF, where he studied under Dr. Michael Merzenich, the world-renowned neuroscientist, who discovered adult plasticity and co-invented the cochlear implant. Dr. Merzenich would later co-found Posit Science, and recruited Dr. Mahncke to the company.

After receiving his PhD, Dr. Mahncke became a consultant with the global strategy firm McKinsey & Co, where he led teams advising medical device companies and launched McKinsey’s video game practice.

After McKinsey, Dr. Mahncke served as a Vice Counsel on Technology to the British Government in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

At Posit Science, Dr. Mahncke established the company’s global scientific advisory boards and extensive research program. That program has resulted in more than 130 published peer-reviewed articles on the efficacy of Posit Science brain exercises and assessments. Those articles show significant gains in standard measures of cognitive performance (eg, speed of processing, attention, memory, executive function), in standard measures of quality of life (eg, health outcomes, health-related quality of life, mood, depressive symptoms, feelings of control) and in standard measures of real world performance (eg, everyday tasks, driving, balance, gait).

Dr. Mahncke is also principal investigator on a number of government (eg, NIH, DoD) grants, and has been involved (as an investigator or consultant) with more research studies on the impact of cognitive training on older adults than probably anyone else on the planet. To date, studies of Posit Science assessment and exercises have benefited from more than $50 million in research funding (largely through grants to independent university-based research teams).

Dr. Mahncke is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, frequently presents at conferences and symposia, and has app