Shelley Carson, Ph.D

As a researcher and instructor at Harvard University, Dr. Shelley Carson, Ph.D. has been a consultant and expert on the topics of creativity and resilience since she received her doctorate from Harvard in 2001. She also serves as Director of Education & Research of the Academy for Brain Health and Performance and is a Founding Scientist of the Gulf Coast-based Brain Health Initiative. She has served as a subject matter expert for the Department of Defense, and is the author of the critically-acclaimed book Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life. 

Dr. Carson’s research and focus centralizes around creativity, the importance of being creative, and the engagement in arts and culture as a protective factor for brain health. She writes the popular Psychology Today blog “Life as Art,” and has won multiple teaching awards at Harvard for her popular course “Creativity: Madmen, Geniuses, and Harvard Students.” When she’s not researching and innovating, Dr. Carson loves to travel, play golf, read suspense novels, and walk the woods near her home south of Boston.

Her research has been widely published in national and international scientific journals and her work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, CNN, NPR, and the BBC, as well as publications such as Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.