Shawna Vesco Ahern, PhD, is the NeuroArts communications specialist at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. She uses storytelling, multimedia, and artistic expression to share scientific discoveries, promote brain health, and broaden public understanding of dementia. A writer, curator, and arts organizer, Dr. Ahern has spent her career championing emerging voices in the arts and humanities and creating spaces where art can foster connection and belonging.
Dr. Ahern is the founder of Wall Box Gallery, an exhibition space on a biotechnology campus in South San Francisco that brings contemporary art into a scientific workplace. She also hosts the Art Yap podcast, where she speaks with artists and arts workers about the systems and stories that shape cultural life. Her interests include neuroarts and neuroaesthetics, particularly how research on art and the brain can inform and benefit people’s lives.
Dr. Ahern earned a PhD in literature from UC Santa Cruz and was named a winner of the apexart International Franchise Program for curatorial excellence. Her projects have been featured in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Artsy, and her writing has been published by Bloomsbury and Duke University Press. Her previous roles include positions at the San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center, and the Tenderloin Museum.