Faculty & Staff
Loren Martin, PhD
Dr. Loren Martin is Associate Vice Provost of Research, Innovation & Partnerships at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI), where he also holds the George B. and Joy Rathmann Endowed Professorship. A neuroscientist-turned-entrepreneur, Dr. Martin has more than two decades of experience bridging academia, industry, and healthcare. His career spans leadership roles such as Chief Scientific Officer at Alter Behavioral Health, Chief Data Officer at Azusa Pacific University, and co-founder of Mindfuli, a virtual mental-health platform.
At KGI, Dr. Martin oversees the Office of Research, Innovation, and Strategic Engagements (RISE) which includes Research and Sponsored Projects, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Laboratory Safety and Support, Corporate Partnerships including KGI’s External Advisory Boards, Corporate Education, and the Ph.D. Program in Applied Life Sciences. He also teaches Biotech Entrepreneurship and advises startup companies in various capacities. He currently serves on the Governing Committee for the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) and as an advisor for the California Department of Health Care Services Substance Use Prevention and Evidence-based Resource Expert Think Tank.
Dr. Martin has a B.S. in Psychology from Olivet Nazarene University, a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and postdoctoral training from the University of California Davis MIND Institute and the California National Primate Center. He has also received training in entrepreneurship through Babson College and artificial intelligence in healthcare through MIT Sloan School of Management.
Dr. Martin's research career spans over two decades and his research interests are highly interdisciplinary, bridging neuroscience, clinical psychology, and digital therapeutics. . His foundational work has advanced our understanding of cerebellar function in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the role of Purkinje cells in executive function, social behavior, and cognitive flexibility. Using sophisticated genetic and behavioral models, Dr. Martin has developed and validated animal paradigms for studying autism-relevant phenotypes, including social motivation and repetitive behaviors.
His more recent scholarship has expanded into the integration of digital mental health interventions, the application of AI in behavioral health, and the development of measurement-based care platforms through ventures such as Mindfuli, a virtual mental health service he co-founded.