Dr. David M. Greenberg is a psychologist and neuroscientist. He has received early career awards from the National Institutes of Health and ESCOM. He has been a senior scientific advisor at numerous companies including Spotify and National Geographic. He is the founder and CEO of Musical Universe, a healthtech startup connecting people seeking diagnosis and treatment to state-of-the-art neuropsychiatric screening and teleheath.
SELECTED
Publications
Dr. Greenberg’s research has been published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, Nature Communications, and the American Psychologist. He is known for publishing massive big data studies including the largest study to date on autism (PNAS, 2018), the largest study to date on music and culture (JPSP, 2022), and the largest study to date on theory of mind (PNAS, 2022).
ONGOING
Scientific Research
Dr. Greenberg has raised over $2m in research funding. His research is situated across three main areas: personality and social psychology, social neuroscience, and autism. He focuses of the uses and effects of music on the brain, behavior and society, with an emphasis on evidence-based clinical treatment through music.
MUSIC THERAPY IN AUTISM
Dr. Greenberg raised $1.7m to head the first nationwide RCT in music therapy and autism with Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. Set to launch 2022-2023 and funded by the Autism Research Trust and The Rosetrees Trust.
SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE OF MUSIC
Dr. Greenberg and colleagues at University of Chicago and Bar-Ilan are mapping the brain networks that activate during music-making. They also are investigating how music can be used to ease social conflict.
PERSONALITY AND PREFERENCES
Dr. Greenberg and his colleagues at Cambridge are exploring the universal and variations universal of music. They continue to confirm two theories: the ‘interactionist theory of music’ and the ‘self-congruity effect’ of music.
NEUROSCIENCE
Dr. Greenberg and his colleagues are researching empathy and systemizing (the D-network) an underlying mechanism for various human behavior including, music.
FEATURED
In the News
Dr. Greenberg’s work is regularly featured in Discover Magazine, TIME Magazine, Popular Science, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, Business Insider, and more.
SPEAKING AT TED
CNN'S CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT TAKES THE TEST
Music
Dr. Greenberg is a musician and songwriter and continues to perform regularly under his full birth name, Yeshaya David.
