Advisory Board

Dr. Gary W. Small

The Newsweek article The Modern Brain said

Is the Internet changing the way our brains work? That’s the provocative question raised by UCLA neuroscientist Gary Small in his new book iBRAIN: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind. His equally provocative answer: yes, it is.
 
All the Internet searching and text messaging has made millennial brains particularly adept at filtering information and making snap decisions, says Small. At the same time, the tech-savvy people he calls “digital natives” are less capable of reading faces or picking up on subtle gestures. As technology spreads, Small suggests, natural selection will favor these newly wired brains and older neural pathways will disappear, taking traditional communication skills with them.

Gary W. Small, M.D. is Parlow-Solomon Professor on Aging, Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Director, UCLA Center on Aging, Director, Memory & Aging Research Center, Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior.
 
He is one of the world’s leading experts on brain science and has published numerous books and over 500 scientific publications. Scientific American magazine named him one of the world’s top innovators in science and technology, and he frequently appears on The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, and CNN. He is on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and PLoS Medicine.
 
Gary invented the first brain scan that allows doctors to see the physical evidence of brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease in living people. Among his numerous breakthrough research studies, he now leads a team of neuroscientists who are demonstrating that exposure to computer technology causes rapid and profound changes in brain neural circuitry.
 
He authored The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young and Improve Your Memory Now: Tools & Exercises to Maximize Your Brain, and coauthored Longevity Bible, The: 8 Essential Strategies for Keeping Your Mind Sharp and Your Body Young, The Memory Prescription: Dr. Gary Small’s 14-Day Plan to Keep Your Brain and Body Young, The Healthy Brain Kit: Clinically Proven Tools to Boost Your Memory, Sharpen Your Mind, Keep Your Brain Young, and iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.
 
Gary earned his medical degree at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He served as an intern in internal medicine at the Children’s Hospital and Adult Medical Center in San Francisco, California. He then completed a residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was appointed Chief Resident of the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Service, and completed a clinical fellowship in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, both in Boston. He then became a fellow in geriatric psychiatry at UCLA.
 
Watch Dr. Gary Small at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center. Read Point, Click, Save Your Brain: New study suggests link between Internet activity and mental acuity.