Francis X. Shen

Dr. Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD is the Executive Director of the Harvard MGH Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior; an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School; Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience at the Harvard Law School Petrie-Flom Center; and an Associate Professor of Law, McKnight Presidential Fellow, and faculty member in the Graduate Program on Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. He directs the Shen Neurolaw Lab, whose Lab motto is, “Every story is a brain story.” He serves as the Executive Director of Education and Outreach for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, and speaks nationally and internationally about the emerging intersection of neuroscience and law.

Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Dr. Shen received his B.A. from the University of Chicago, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Shen conducts empirical and legal research at the intersection of law and neuroscience. He has co-authored 3 books, including the first Law and Neuroscience casebook (Aspen). He has also published articles on a range of neurolaw topics, including memory and lie detection, cognitive enhancement, criminal justice, brain injury, evidentiary admissibility, sports concussion, juror decision-making, criminal mental states, dementia, human-animal chimeras, and mental health. He also teaches and writes on artificial intelligence and the law.