Alyssa Picchini Schaffer, Ph.D.

Alyssa Picchini Schaffer, Ph.D., is vice president and senior scientific officer for the Neuroscience Collaborations at the Simons Foundation. In this role, she identifies, shapes, and oversees the foundation’s neuroscience collaborations, which bring together outstanding scientists to address fundamental questions about brain function. She also oversees ANI’s early career programs and leads the Pivot Fellowship, which supports successful scientists to make contributions to a new discipline. Picchini Schaffer is a member of the National Academies Neuroforum and co-chairs the BRAIN Initiative Alliance, a partnership that connects federal, philanthropic and nonprofit funders of brain research.

Before joining the foundation, Picchini Schaffer was scientific director of TEDMED, a division of TED focused on science, health and medicine. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College and her Ph.D. from Columbia University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in which she studied the fate specification and dynamics of stem cells in the adult hippocampus. She is an alumna of the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, where she worked on federal health and preparedness policy at the Department of Health and Human Services.