Q+A with Vivian DeWoskin, CCO of NeuraLight

Please help us to welcome the newest member of the NeuraLight leadership team, Vivian DeWoskin , who joined us as Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, Vivian served as VP, Head of Strategy, at Komodo Health. You can learn about why she joined our team, as well as more about her background and leadership philosophy, below:

With your academic background in cognitive and computational neuroscience, what led you to more broadly pursue life sciences and business management in previous roles? And what does it mean to you to return to this focus on neuro?

“I was originally drawn to study neuroscience as a result of my grandmother’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease. Anyone who has been unfortunate to experience it firsthand knows that Alzheimer’s is devastating, with few treatment options that have been shown to really make a difference in the pace of disease progression. Watching the disease steal away my grandmother’s memory, her independence, and even her sense of self pushed me to want to better understand the brain and how it works, in both health and illness.?

“In school, I found myself completely fascinated with cognitive neuroscience, specifically diving deeply into the mechanisms behind human learning and memory. Although I loved my research at Princeton, which focused on reinforcement learning and representation learning in the human brain, I realized I had strayed a bit from my original purpose, and sought to return to the healthcare industry in my career. As a consultant to the life sciences industry, I found a second passion – by working with biopharma, diagnostics, and device companies I was able to combine my scientific training with my love of strategic problem solving, and in doing so felt I was really able to help make a difference in bringing meaningful treatments to patients in need.?

“After a number of years, I again felt like something was missing though, and wanted to gradually move back toward the computational aspects of my prior training. That desire led me into health technology, where I found Komodo Health. Komodo was a fantastic place to transition into the technology sector, where I could leverage my deep knowledge of life sciences customers and my analytical skills to really excel in commercializing Komodo’s innovations in data and analytics for life sciences.

“Along the way in my career, there were certainly times when I looked back and wished I’d gotten my PhD in Neuroscience. After all, I’d been studying machine learning for neuroscience in its infancy, and felt I may have wasted that chance to be at the forefront of the research community! But then NeuraLight came along, and everything feels like it has come full-circle. Had it not been for the last 15 years of deep experience in commercialization for life sciences, I would not have had the opportunity to join the NeuraLight team at this pivotal moment in its growth. I’m thrilled to be back in the neuro space, helping patients with the kinds of devastating conditions my grandmother suffered through, and so glad that all of my career experience thus far will be valuable to helping NeuraLight achieve this mission.”

What attracted you to NeuraLight?

“I was attracted to NeuraLight for a number of reasons. First, the mission and the goal – it’s important to me that any work I do be impactful in improving health outcomes, and NeuraLight’s technology has the potential to truly have a transformative impact on clinical development for novel, disease-modifying therapeutics, and ultimately on diagnosis and care management for patients with neurodegenerative disease. The next thing that drew me in was the team. Micha, Eddy, Rivka, Gil and the whole team are some of the most passionate, experienced, yet humble people I have come across in my career. They’re extremely knowledgeable and I’m excited for the work we will do together.?

“The last thing that really confirmed that NeuraLight was the place for me is the incredible culture that I could see in all of my interactions with the team. One of NeuraLight’s core values is ‘Psychological Safety’, which is rare to see as a corporate value, even though it’s one of the most important factors in creating successful teams! If you aren’t familiar with the term, HBR wrote about the definition of psychological safety within teams back in February of this year. While not a new idea, in the past several years, I have seen more companies paying attention to the importance of this type of environment.I was so excited to find that NeuraLight’s culture is so strongly aligned with my personal leadership values, and that the company fosters an environment where everyone can share their opinions, speak their mind, take risks, and ask questions. That is the type of environment that leads to the greatest success, and creates companies that thrive.”?

Can you tell us more about your grandmother’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease?

“My grandmother, Lois, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when I was in middle school. Everyone who knew Lois would tell you she was a dynamic woman; she had a big personality and an even bigger heart. She was all the things I admired and wanted to grow up to be–smart (she’d been a mathematician before marrying my grandfather), loving, courageous, strong, charismatic, stubborn at times, but always gracious and graceful.?

“In the first few years after her diagnosis, it was almost possible to forget she had Alzheimer’s, but as the years went on, it gradually stole more and more of her memory, her independence, and even her personality. By the time I was in college, she no longer remembered who I or most of our family were, but somehow she still knew we loved her and she loved us.?

“If technology like NeuraLight’s had been available, maybe we would have been able to diagnose it earlier, or better understand what was happening to her. Perhaps the technology could have been used to speed up the pace of clinical therapeutic development. It might not have been available to her, but my sincere hope is that this technology will truly be able to make a difference in the clinical care of patients with neurodegenerative conditions moving forward.”

What specifically excites you most about NeuraLight’s technology?

“So many things! First of all, you could consider the eyes to be a window to the brain. So much of what is happening in the brain can be detected from changes in the eyes or eye movements, and there is a large body of existing scientific evidence that supports this. What NeuraLight has done is create an innovative and extremely accessible way to capture and measure those changes, without the need for an expensive lab or cumbersome devices. This means that we can bring this technology directly to patients, wherever they are, whether in the clinic or even, in the future, at home.?

“And of course, the NeuraLight team is made up of incredible minds who are leading the way in developing the advanced models that will ultimately allow us to transform the data being collected into powerful predictive insights about patients’ disease.”

Can you describe your leadership philosophy?

“I think anyone who has worked with me before knows that I believe in creating an environment where everyone on the team feels a sense of belonging, agency, and ownership. I strive to create diverse teams built on a foundation of mutual respect, openness, and curiosity, where everyone is empowered to do their best work. NeuraLight’s core value of psychological safety is directly in line with my personal leadership philosophy, and I’m excited to grow and maintain this amazing culture.”

What advice would you share with others looking to follow in your footsteps??

“I’m far from the first to say this, but growth isn’t always linear. When I started studying neuroscience, I didn’t know I’d spend the first 8+ years of my career in life sciences consulting. As a consultant, I didn’t know I’d one day lead strategy at a healthcare data & technology company. And at Komodo, I didn’t know the perfect opportunity to jump back into neuro would present itself, but in the end it did. I’m a firm believer in following your passions, and having a reason for each choice that you make and opportunity you pursue. You may not know exactly where each step will lead, but as long as you are following your genuine interests, and pursuing growth of any form, you’ll find that in the end, the path you took made perfect sense.?

“On another note, I have always been a multi-passionate, interdisciplinary sort of person, but at times that made me feel like I didn’t fit in, like I didn’t have as clear of a purpose in my life and career as some of my peers and colleagues, who seemed to know exactly what their focus was. So to anyone else who also feels like that describes them, who feels like they have trouble staying “in their lane”, who wants to cross the boundaries of functions, of industries, of disciplines – keep going! The world needs more people who are comfortable living in the gray area, who can see patterns across organizations and industries, and who can bring new ideas and passion to their work. If that’s you, my best advice is to lean into that passion, lean into your strengths, and find leaders and organizations that appreciate you for the unique combination of skills you bring to the table.”

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Learn more about the role Vivian will play at NeuraLight: bit.ly/43ognLG

Learn more about NeuraLight and the technology supporting transformation of clinical development, diagnostics, and precision medicine in neurology: https://neuralight.ai/