Daniel Levitin Keynote Speaker

Dr. Daniel J. Levitin is an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, and best-selling author, whose research focuses on the intersections of music, the brain, health, productivity, and creativity. He has published over 300 articles in prestigious journals like Science and Nature, as well as in popular outlets such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. His work has been featured more than 2,000 times in the media, including over 60 appearances on NPR.

Levitin is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including This Is Your Brain on Music, The Organized Mind, and Successful Aging, along with international bestsellers A Field Guide to Lies and I Heard There Was A Secret Chord: Music As Medicine. As a sought-after speaker, he has presented to the U.S. Congress, the UK Parliament, and major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. He has also consulted for organizations including Apple, Booz-Allen, Microsoft, the United States Navy, Sonos, Philips, Sony, Sirius/XM, Fender, Farmers Insurance, and AT&T. Since 2017, he has been a member of an expert panel on Music As Medicine appointed by the White House Science Office and the National Institutes of Health.

As a musician (tenor saxophone, guitar, vocals, and bass), he has performed with Mel Tormé, Renée Fleming, Sting, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Bobby McFerrin, and Victor Wooten. Levitin has produced and consulted on albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Joni Mitchell, as well as on the films Good Will Hunting and Pulp Fiction. He has been awarded 17 gold and platinum records, with music projects he contributed to selling over 30 million copies.

Levitin is James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Music at McGill University; Founding Dean and Special Advisor to the President at Minerva University San Francisco, California; Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at The UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.