Meet John Guzowski, Ph.D.
Neuroscientist, educator, and founder of Thrive Science & Wellbeing
A Career in Neuroscience Research
I'm a neuroscientist and educator whose career has focused on a fundamental question: How does experience change the brain, and how does the brain in turn shape how we experience the world?
For more than three decades, my work has spanned academic research, biotechnology, and university teaching, including positions at UC Irvine, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico and Virion Systems, Inc. At UC Irvine, I was an associate professor of neurobiology and behavior, served as director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, and was the inaugural holder of the James L. McGaugh Endowed Chair.
My research focused on learning and memory and the ways experiences changes the brain. That work gave me a deep respect for evidence, mechanisms, complexity, and the limits of what science can tell us. Some of my contributions to neuroscience were:
How learning changes neurons: I studied how learning activates genes in neurons and how these changes help stabilize experiences into lasting memories.
How we map brain activity: I helped develop method for identifying which neurons are active during different experience, helping reveal how brain-wide patterns of activity unfold across neural circuits during behavior.
How the hippocampus supports memory: I investigated how interconnected circuits within the hippocampus contribute to learning and memory, including neural computations performed in these circuits.
How inflammation affects brain function: I studied how neuroinflammation can alter neural circuit dynamics and influence memory function.
For more details about my research, visit Google Scholar, PubMed, or Research Gate, and my LinkedIn profile.
From Neuroscience Research to Wellbeing Work
Over time, my interest expanded from how the brain learns to a broader question: How can what we understand about the brain help us live our lives?
That question became personal. After experiencing periods of depression and anxiety, I began looking more deeply into the science of wellbeing—not simply as a researcher, but as someone trying to understand my own experience. I became interested in the science of habits, stress, emotion, sleep, physical health, social connection, and the many ways these aspects of life interact.
That interest led me to develop and teach The Mind-Body Connection in the Neuroscience of Wellbeing (BIO48) at UC Irvine. The course brought together neuroscience, physiology, psychology, and contemplative perspectives to explore wellbeing as an interconnected system. Over six offerings, hundreds of students explored not only what the science tells us, but how that knowledge might be applied to their own lives.
Deciphering the interconnections among the biological systems that support wellbeing—and teaching others what I was learning—became a passion. But BIO48 also became something more than a science class. I wanted to explore the human and experiential dimensions of wellbeing: how we experience our lives, what gives them meaning, and how our practices such as mindfulness, art, and connection can shape that experience.
During a difficult period in my life, I discovered the music of Dutch harpist Lavinia Meijer. I found it remarkably therapeutic—it helped me reconnect with emotions that had become difficult to access. As a neuroscientist, I was fascinated by the experience: music wasn't simply something I enjoyed; it was changing how I felt and experienced the world.
So when I invited Lavinia to speak to my BIO48 students, it was deeply personal as well as academic. We talked about music, attention, meditation, and mindfulness, and about how these practices had become part of her own life and work. For me, it captured something central to the course: wellbeing can be studied through biology and neuroscience, but it is ultimately something we experience and live.
Creating and teaching BIO48 reinforced something that had been emerging in my thinking for years: understanding the biological mechanisms of wellbeing is only part of the story. What fascinated me was how those mechanisms interact with psychology, behavior, relationships, environment, and subjective experience to shape our lives. Exploring those connections became a natural extension of my scientific work—and ultimately led me to found Thrive Science & Wellbeing.
Thrive became a way to continue that exploration beyond the classroom: bringing what we know from neuroscience and related fields into a broader conversation about wellbeing, human experience, and how we live.
Beyond the Lab & Lecture Hall
My curiosity has never been limited to the laboratory or the classroom. I've been a photographer for most of my life, and photography has taught me to slow down, pay attention, and look more closely at the world around me. I love being in nature—whether hiking a ridge or snorkeling over a reef—and I'm particularly drawn to the tropics, where that sense of immersion and connection is especially strong for me.
Music has been another constant in my life, as have curiosity, contemplation, and a fascination with the ways we experience this amazing world.
These interests aren't separate from my scientific work. In many ways, they're part of the same question: What does it mean to be a human being experiencing this remarkable world—and how can a better understanding of ourselves help us live more fully?
On the trail in Kauai.
In the lab at the microscope.
In the lecture hall with Lavinia Meijer.
Ideas & Images
A window into my work and perspective: peer-reviewed research on ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and PubMed; articles on Medium and Substack; videos on my YouTube channel; photographs on 500px and Pentax Photo Gallery; and updates, thoughts, and connections on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Reach out for questions or collaborations.
john@johnguzowski.com
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