Sandra B. Chapman

Sandra B. Chapman, PhD, is the founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor, The University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Chapman’s research as a cognitive neuroscientist, spanning 25 years, is devoted to better understanding how to maximize higher order reasoning, critical thinking, and innovation across the lifespan, and how to protect and heal cognitive brain function from brain injuries and diseases.

Dr. Chapman is actively involved in public policy to address brain health and to discover ways to maximize cognitive brain function from youth through adulthood. Her research reveals that the middle school years represent a pivotal window for developing reasoning skills. Her team has developed ways to measure and advance these skills to address the growing decline in teen reasoning capacity through administering evidenced-based cognitive training programs.

Dr. Chapman coined the term Brainomics© to represent the economics of brain power — our greatest economic asset and cost burden — developed at school and in the workplace, for better or worse. With more than 125 publications and 30 funded research grants, her research spans the age spectrum from studies that establish ways to advance teen reasoning to protocols that enhance cognitive brain function into late life.