Charles Yokoyama

Charles Yokoyama is a neuroscientist and editor. He earned an M.S. from MIT, Ph.D. from the University of Washington, and did postdoctoral work at Cornell. His research expertise includes voltage-gated ion channels, synaptic transmission, and memory systems. He served as Senior Editor for Neuron, Associate Editor for BrainFacts.org, and policy writer for the G7 Summit Science Academies, has held executive roles at RIKEN and The University of Tokyo, and is now a Professor in the Center for Brain Science at Fujita Health University.

At the Trace Institute, Charles is helping to guide the development of the neuroscience research portfolio, and to assist with scientific planning and organizational management, including manuscript writing and editing, media relations, and research collaboration. He is also passionate to work with colleagues on the intersection of mathematics and lived experience that will build the Trace Institute's observer theory, ontology, and neuro-AI.

Charles is concerned that mainstream mind-brain dualism and materialist reductionism is leading science down a path without closure. But transdisciplinary studies of mathematics and phenomenology to map the ontology of human experience can build a more veridical model of nature. He believes the Trace Institute is at the frontiers of this grand challenge.