Meet The Team
Jacob Shwartz-Lucas
Executive Director
Jacob is a conservationist and a humanitarian biotechnologist who has contributed to food security in Sub-Saharan Africa and clean water in Bangladesh. During a thesis stint at Harvard, and in interviews on Stanford University Radio with Nobelists and reps from companies like Y Combinator, he explored EA policy issues. Jacob created IW to strike at the root of all humanitarian crises -life's shared genetic basis for suffering.
%2C_September_.jpg)
David Pearce
Director of Bioethics
David is a philosopher and the author of The Hedonistic Imperative which outlines a bold vision for phasing out the biology of suffering. He is the co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association / Humanity+ with Nick Bostrom. His work has centered on replacing the traditional pleasure-pain axis with a new architecture of mind - a motivational system based entirely on information-sensitive gradients of well-being.
_edited.jpg)
Lourdes Maigua Medrano
Researcher
Lourdes is a third-year Biology undergraduate at Oxford interested in wildlife conservation and evolution. She is passionate about the study of natural genetic diversity and its importance in conservation efforts.
Anna Keszthelyi
Researcher
Anna has a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford and a master's in One Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Royal Veterinary College. Anna is excited about the use of genetic techniques to reduce suffering in different species.
Zachary Braithwaite
Researcher
Zach is a second-year Biology Undergraduate at Oxford interested in neural circuits and ecological conservation. He is excited about the judicious use of genetic engineering for improving crop yields and minimizing suffering.
Aysha Adam
Researcher
Aysha is a first-year Biology undergraduate at Oxford interested in neuroscience, psychology, and genetics. She is interested in finding relevant research pathways to reduce degenerative diseases and the impact it has on the people around the patient.
Coral Benfield
Researcher
Coral is a second year Biochemistry undergraduate at Oxford interested in cell signalling, genetics, and protein structure and function. She is curious about the history and philosophy of science and believes in an interdisciplinary approach to finding effective research paths.
Remarez Sheehan
Researcher
Remi is a fourth year medical student at Oxford with a medical sciences degree focused on cellular and systems neuroscience. He is interested in the mechanisms of deep brain stimulation and its application as a therapy for neurological and psychiatric diseases. Remi's focus is neurosurgery.
Mark Mollineaux
Stanford University Radio
Mark is the Program Director for KZSU Stanford, liaising between the station and Invincible Wellbeing. In 2016, Mark and Jacob launched HGP, a show about economic justice and ending poverty. The two have interviewed Nobel Prize winners and representatives from companies like Microsoft and YCombinator.
.png)
Jonathan Holmén
Director of Development
Jonathan’s life goal is to reduce suffering via biotech R&D. With more than 10 years of experience in preclinical contract research, drug development, and management consulting, he has served on core teams responsible for generating investment toward IPOs (>$70M), and pharmaceutical out-licensing agreements (>$120M).
Adam Shriver
Honorary Committee Member
Adam Shriver is a philosopher with a Ph.D. from the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to Oxford, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of British Columbia. Adam’s research examines the intersection of ethics and cognitive science and he has written multiple articles about human well-being and animal welfare. In particular, Adam’s research has examined the significance of the dissociation between the affective and sensory components of pain for philosophical theories of ethics and well-being. To this end, Adam has written about the relationship between pain and pleasure, the legal and ethical questions that arise from the search for a neural signature of pain in humans, and the capacity for suffering across different species.