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1 Filename: jyoti_human_klc_ucsd_2016.pdf (252 KB) Uploaded: Sep 26, 2016 Steven Hillyard title: Professor Emeritus affiliation: University of California San Diego Reference Letter from Steven Hillyard for Jyoti Mishra

2 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO BERKELEY DAVIS IRVINE LOS ANGELES MERCED RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCES, 0608 SCHOOL OF MEDICINE TELEPHONE: (858) Letter of Reference for Jyoti Mishra UCSD SANTA BARBARA SANTA CRUZ 9500 GILMAN DRIVE LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA September 26, 2016 With much enthusiasm I am writing to recommend Dr. Jyoti Mishra for the Assistant Professor position at U.C.S.D. in the area of the Biological Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning and Creativity. I was Jyoti s thesis advisor in the Department of Neurosciences at U.C.S.D. from 2004 to She received her Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at U.C.S.D. in the spring of 2008 and then worked in my laboratory as a post-doctoral researcher for a year before joining the groups of Drs. Gazzaley and Merzenich at U.C. San Francisco. Jyoti is one of the two or three most brilliant and accomplished students that I have mentored in my more than 40 years on the U.C.S.D. faculty. She has superior abilities in both the fields of computational and cognitive neuroscience and is particularly gifted in studies of the neural mechanisms of perception, attention, and multi-sensory integration. As a student in our Computational Neuroscience Program at U.C.S.D., Jyoti specialized in creating neural network models of higher cognitive brain functions. Working with her co-advisor, Dr. Terry Sejnowski, Jyoti developed (and published in Neural Networks) a novel computational model of how neurons in the visual cortex interact so as to facilitate selective attention. Reference Letter from Steven Hillyard for Jyoti Mishra For her dissertation research in my laboratory, Jyoti designed and executed a series of elegant experiments that showed how auditory and visual stimuli interact in the brain so as to produce integrated perceptual experiences. She demonstrated that this multisensory integration was produced by a very rapid dynamic interplay between visual and auditory cortical areas and that attention plays a critical role in this integration. The results of this research were published in the Journal of Neuroscience. During her post-doctoral year in my laboratory Jyoti continued to do outstanding and original research. In one study she found that young adults who trained at playing video games had an enhanced ability to focus attention and to suppress irrelevant information as it passes through the visual cortex. This work was also published in the Journal of Neuroscience. In another technically demanding study Jyoti demonstrated that selective attention acts to amplify visual signals at an early stage of cortical processing and does not merely reset the phase of the ongoing EEG, as many investigators have assumed. This work was published in NeuroImage. These outstanding neurophysiological studies bring us closer to understanding the brain mechanisms that allow us to pay attention effectively to important events in the environment. Jyoti has continued to carry out cutting edge research projects after moving to U.C. San Francisco, first as a post-doctoral fellow with Drs. Adam Gazzaley and Michael Merzenich, and then as an independent faculty researcher. At U.C.S.F she has expanded her interests into more translational

3 research, using novel training procedures to improve neuro-cognitive performance in the elderly and in children with attention deficit disorder. These lines of research fit perfectly with Jyoti s long-standing commitment to allieviating disease and supporting humanitarian initiatives. Even during her demanding years of graduate study in my laboratory Jyoti found time to work on international humanitarian projects involving poverty in third-world countries, women s rights in India and AIDS prevention. She is deeply committed to use her scientific talents to make the world a better place. Jyoti s recent translational research has produced spectacular results. She has developed adaptive training procedures in the format of video games that can improve a person s memory, attention, and cognitive performance. She has demonstrated that the brains of older persons have considerable plasticity, and that specialized training techniques can help to overcome cognitive decline with aging. These studies used rigorous methodologies and obtained convincing results, as evidenced by Jyoti s first-authored publications in the top journals in the field Neuron and the Journal of Neuroscience. The success of these projects is a tribute to Jyoti s scientific acumen and her creativity. She has been working independently as a U.C.S.F faculty member for several years, and she has been a prime mover in the formulation and design of these new techniques for improving human cognition. In sum, Jyoti s blossoming career is a creative fusion of her extraordinary scientific talents and her deep humanitarian values. With her solid grounding in both computational neuroscience and cognitive science, coupled with her brilliant intellect, Jyoti is an outstanding candidate for the interdisciplinary Assistant Professor position in Human KLC. Reference Letter from Steven Hillyard for Jyoti Mishra Sincerely, Steven A. Hillyard Ph.D. Distinguished Professor, Emeritus Department of Neurosciences U.C.S.D. School of Medicine

4 Filename: Mishra_UCSD 16.pdf (70.5 KB) Uploaded: Sep 30, 2016 Michael M Merzenich title: Founder and Chief Scientific Officer affiliation: Posit Science Reference comment: Jyoti Mishra is the most capable and qualified individual in her generation, working in this general area of research, that I know of in the world. Reference Letter from Michael M Merzenich for Jyoti Mishra

5 Dear Search Committee Members, Posit Science, SF September 20, 2016 This letter of recommendation is written in support the appointment of Dr. Jyoti Mishra to an entry-level faculty position in your Department. Jyoti began her work in San Francisco with a joint appointment at BPI (a research institute at Posit Science) and as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Adam Gazzaley s laboratory in the Department of Neurology at UCSF. With her promotion to the position of Assistant Professor, she moved full-time to UCSF, while sustaining a close working relationship with our program development and outcomes research teams at Posit Science. I have had a close working relationship with Dr. Mishra, have had innumerable discussions with her about the great issues of our science, and have had the advantages of being a friend of this truly wonderful young scientist and citizen. Dr. Mishra came to us with an outstanding record of achievement as a top-ranked student at the Indian Institute of Technology, arguably the best technical universities in India, then as a doctoral student in Dr. Steven Hilliard s lab at UCSD. I have trained more than 200 research fellows through the course of my UCSF career;; most now hold tenured positions at research universities;; several became corporate CEOs;; several dozen became Department Chairpersons or Institute Directors;; nine are now members of their respective National Academies. Jyoti ranks in the top rank in this group, with truly outstanding prospects for future achievement as a great world scientist. Reference Letter from Michael M Merzenich for Jyoti Mishra She s truly exceptional because she combines a) a superb quantitative science/engineering background, with b) outstanding training in neuroscience and cognitive science, c) high energy and great determination to get things done, d) a great capacity for discovery and invention, e) a powerful personal sense of responsibility, and h) high motivation to do good in the world. The project that Jyoti developed as a collaborative project between her UCSF lab and our Brain Plasticity Institute team at Posit Science provides a clear demonstration of her special abilities. Professor Gazzaley s group had earlier shown that a problem plaguing aged and attentionally impaired child and adult populations is expressed by a weakened ability to suppress externally and internally generated distractors. Using animal studies conducted in my (and other) UCSF laboratory(ies) and an outstanding understanding of fundamental and integrative neuroscience as a starting point, Jyoti developed a training strategy that she quickly demonstrated, by behavioral indices and neurological recording, progressively GREW powers of distractor suppression. She then created the elaborate tool set required to achieve that neurological correction in a way that assured that it would generalize to all aspects of listening and vision. Lots of research fellows would have been satisfied by moving across the scientific and intellectual landscape over this great distance over the span of less than two years. Not Jyoti. She immediately sought practical targets so that she could apply her new neurological tools to benefit struggling individuals: ADHD-impaired child, children with attention, impulse-control and Brain Plasticity Institute 625 Market St., Suite 610 San Francisco, CA

6 other problems stemming from abusive or otherwise very difficult early childhoods, and individuals with these neurological weaknesses that developed addictions became the focus of her science. To fully address these underlying neurological deficits, she knew that she also had to train affected children and adults in ways that assured that they would overcome the second great class of neurological weaknesses that frustrate them, i.e., their inattention/decoding problems. Initially with the support of a Fogarty grant, she singlehandedly constructed an elegant 24-module computerized training program that addresses BOTH inattentiveness and distractor suppression in a wonderful game-like form, now validated in controlled intent-to-treat trials conducted to the highest standards in attentionally-impaired and abused (recovered abandoned) children in New Dehli. THIS IS A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT marked by a beautiful record of scientific studies AND state-of-the-art tool development, for this brilliant young biomedical scientist. Exceptional technological ability, outstanding experiment planning, grant writing skills, leadership abilities, creative invention ALL have been richly evident in this outstanding body of work. Jyoti has been extending this work by integrating real-time neurological recording with training, evolving strategies that increase training efficiency and power while directly documenting that neurological training goals are being achieved. This special form of biofeedback holds great promise for helping many classes of struggling individuals in the world. Reference Letter from Michael M Merzenich for Jyoti Mishra I should also point out that Dr. Jyoti Mishra is full of energy, works with high intensity, and is highly productive. She s already published nearly 20 peer-reviewed articles, mostly in high impact journals;; authored 7 or 8 well-considered commentaries or reviews;; is a co-inventor on 4 or 5 patents;; has already received a number of significant awards for her research;; has developed a significant international presence by contributing to international foundations and research projects, including studies now underway in Asia and Australia;; has made a serious commitment to STEM teaching, where she has also mentored nearly 50 young women interested in science, engineering or technology careers and has been recognized for these achievements by San Francisco s mayor. Which is all another way of again pointing out that Jyoti Mishra is a wonderful human individual. She shall inspire any student or fellow lucky enough to work with her. She shall always conduct studies to the highest professional standards. She is collaborative and helpful by nature. Given the right opportunities, I have no doubt whatever that she shall personally make the world a little better place for all the rest of us. It seems to this observer that Dr. Jyoti Mishra is EXACTLY the kind of young scientist that you would like to have working down the hall from you, in your outstanding Department. She is absolutely, unequivocally, up to your high standards. I recommend her to you, with highest possible enthusiasm. Yours sincerely, Michael M. Merzenich President & Founder, Brain Plasticity Institute Brain Plasticity Institute 625 Market St., Suite 610 San Francisco, CA

7 Chief Scientific Officer, Posit Science Corporation Professor Emeritus, UCSF Reference Letter from Michael M Merzenich for Jyoti Mishra Brain Plasticity Institute 625 Market St., Suite 610 San Francisco, CA

8 Filename: Mishra_2016-_Faculty_letter.pdf (183 KB) Uploaded: Sep 29, 2016 Adam Gazzaley title: Professor affiliation: University of California San Francisco Reference Letter from Adam Gazzaley for Jyoti Mishra

9 ADAM GAZZALEY, M.D., Ph.D. Executive Director Neuroscape Professor Neurology, Physiology, and Psychiatry University of California, San Francisco Dear Selection Committee, Sandler Neurosciences Building 675 Nelson Rising Ln., Room511C San Francisco, CA Phone: (415) September 29, 2016 It is my great pleasure to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Dr. Jyoti Mishra for a faculty position. I have been absolutely delighted to have had Jyoti in my laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow, and then an Adjunct Assistant Professor. She will be an extraordinary addition to your faculty. Reference Letter from Adam Gazzaley for Jyoti Mishra Since she joined the lab in July 2009, Jyoti has impressed me with her unique blend of independent thinking and collaborative spirit. Highlights of her achievements at UCSF include w development and longitudinal evaluation of a novel brain plasticity based training technology, now with four patent filings at UCSF w development of novel research hypotheses & subsequent discoveries on the interaction between attention and multisensory processing w successful grant funding - UCSF Postdoctoral Research Award, Breakthrough Biomedical Research Award, Klingenstein Foundation fellowship, and Hellman award for early career faculty; also currently a fellow of the Career Development Institute for Psychiatry and the NIH global mhealth institute w fruitful collaborations with scientists and clinical experts at institutions around the world leading to joint publications w research that has been highly interdisciplinary, including cross-species studies in animal models, clinical trial in psychiatric child populations and global mental health research in India w an impressive list of 14 first-author research manuscripts in high impact journals (e.g., Neuron, Nature Translational Psychiatry, Neuroimage, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal of Neurosciences) and multiple review chapters w a global mental health research program that applies digital neuro-cognitive technologies in remote settings since 2011, supported by an NIH/Fogarty fellowship, a UCSF global health basic science award and a global brain health institute award w active teaching and STEM mentoring; taught 10 courses as section/ full course instructor at several bay area schools (UCSF, UC Berkeley, Stanford, San Francisco State), mentored 46 trainees; STEM outreach recognized by SF mayor w contributions to public service in collaboration with UCSF visiting artists leading to creation of an art-science exhibit promoting public awareness of human cognitive neuroscience research w represented learning research on several national and international stages, including the World Bank Global Mental Health Summit, Public Health Foundation of India, American Assoc of University Women, National Academies & Keck Futures Initiative, Brighter Brains conference (keynote), DARPA (online keynote). On top of this, Jyoti has maintained a strong partnership with an independent scientific institute, Brain Plasticity Inc. (BPI) that serves as a model for successful academiaindustry collaborations. It is evident from these accomplishments in research, publications, fund generation, collaborations and peer recognition that Jyoti is an emerging leader in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Her performance surpassed

10 that of most postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty I have interacted with at UCSF. Jyoti is now in the process of developing her independent research focus in novel cognitive therapeutics using multi-pronged integrative approaches for attentionally impaired children. This career path is sure to result in her continued success as she launches her independent scientific enterprise. Jyoti is a superstar and I am truly looking forward to following her career path. She will contribute a unique skill set to your faculty portfolio while fostering high impact interdisciplinary research. I give Jyoti my highest possible recommendation in all regards. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information. Regards, Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D. Executive Director, Neuroscape University of California, San Francisco Reference Letter from Adam Gazzaley for Jyoti Mishra