Jack Chen, MBA
Jack is an entrepreneur and pioneer in U.S. and Asia cross-border investment and operations. As Founder and CEO of Transworld Capital Group, Jack completed some of the largest M&A transactions between the U.S. and Asia, one of which was hailed as “one of the landmark deals of the era” by the Wall Street Journal. He has served as a board member on the Asia Society of Southern California, Methodist Hospital Foundation, American Chinese CEO Organization and Committee 2005, and was appointed Visiting Professor of Master and Applied Psychology at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Jack was one of the first investors in the promising cognitive science firm Magceutics/Neurocentria, where he was also a board member and actively involved in developing the company’s strategy. He has spoken on some of the most prestigious stages in the world including Harvard, MIT, UCLA, the Brookings Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the United States Embassy in Beijing, and Tsinghua University.
Richard Walden, J.D., MBA
With over 40 years of experience in global humanitarian development and venture philanthropy, Richard supports Cognitive Leap’s mission of accessibility as applied to mental health assessment and treatment worldwide. Richard is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of Operation USA, an international relief and development nonprofit based in Los Angeles, California. He is the recipient of multiple humanitarian awards, and his Operation USA shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as a key member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Richard’s work has reached over 101 countries and had over $400M in impact. Richard previously served on California's Health Facilities Commission. He received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance, and a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D.
Skip serves the Cognitive Leap Executive Team as our Chief Science Officer, utilizing his expertise as a psychologist/neuropsychologist leading our research efforts, with a particular focus on virtual reality and research. Skip is a pioneer in virtual reality therapy, currently serving as the Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies and also works as a Research Scientist and Research Professor at the Institute for Creative Technologies and Department of USC Department of Psychiatry and the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Over the last 20 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on ADHD, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke aftermath and other clinical conditions. In each of these areas, Skip focuses on how interactive and immersive Virtual Reality simulations can be practically applied in new ways. As an author or co-author, Skip is on more than 200 scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is also an editor on a number of scholarly journals, including The International Journal of Virtual Reality, and is the creator of the Virtual Reality Mental Health Email Listserver (VRPSYCH). In 2010, he received the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Practice of Trauma Psychology, and in 2012, the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Satava Award for excellence in the use of VR for therapeutic applications. In 2015, he received the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics Pioneer in Medicine Award.Skip earned his B.A. in Psychology (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Hartford in 1977, his M.S. in Experimental Psychology from the University of New Orleans in 1982, and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York-Binghamton in 1991.
Hui Qi Tong, Ph.D.
Hui Qi serves as an advisor at Cognitive Leap. Trained in medicine in China and clinical psychology in the U.S., Hui Qi has extensive experience with clinical research and mindfulness-based interventions. She is a clinical professor at the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as well as Director of the Mindfulness Program at the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine. Hui Qi was previously a research fellow at the Genetics Division, Boston Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School, a clinical fellow in trauma at University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco VA Health Care System, and was an academic visitor at the Oxford Mindfulness Center at Oxford University. She serves on the International Advisory Committee for AccessMBCT and on the international board for the National Psychological Recovery Alliance, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a Jon Kabat-Zinn certified Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) trainer and supervisor as well as a trainer and supervisor for WHO's Problem Management Plus (PM+) in China.
Roberto Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Dr. Rodriguez combine 30 plus years in academia with disruptive thinking to advice k-12 schools, multinational companies, private banks and world economic organizations to achieve digital transformation, educational equity and high-quality curricula and mental wellness. Dr. Rodriguez won the Life-Time Achievement Award by Costa Rican Board of Psychologists. He has been a member of the National Association of School Psychology (NASP) and the Board of Professional Psychologists of Costa Rica. He was appointed as member of the COVID19 Task Force of the Secretariat of Education, in Costa Rica (May 2020). Dr. Rodríguez was a consultant for World Bank, serving the Family and Child Protection Agency of the Costa Rican Government, to develop a parenting program based on digital tools and social media, and worked as a consultant United Nations Development Program, UNDP, serving the President of Costa Rica’s Office on public track opinion and surveying, and Modernization of the Equity and Social Programs of the Secretariat of Public Education. San José, Costa Rica. Dr. Rodríguez has a Ph.D. from the Dept. of Educational Psychology and Research of the School of Education of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He also has a M.Sc. in Education and a B.A. majoring in Psychology from the same University.
Betty Qi
Betty Qi, Graduated from China Medical University and then worked in the field of gynecological oncology surgery. After coming to the United States in 1994, shifted from medicine to business, and worked in the tourism and hotel industry for 25 years. Started operating the Cogleap center in the mental health field in 2022, and continue to do so to this day.