Steven L. Small, Ph.D., M.D., is Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology and Behavior, and Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Medical Innovation Institute, a new initiative of the UCI Health School of Medicine. He was the Chair of the Department of Neurology from 2010-2017. Dr. Small is also Professor Emeritus of Neurology and Psychology at The University of Chicago. As a scientist, Dr. Small has been a pioneer in understanding the anatomy and physiology of the human brain and its relation to function by direct investigation of human subjects. This work has encompassed the study of normal adults and children, adults with neurological disease (especially stroke and sports-related mild traumatic brain injury), and children with developmental impairments. As Department Chair, Dr. Small doubled department size and expanded significantly the volume and quality of neurological services for the only academic medical center in Orange County, California, the sixth largest county in the United States, with a population of more than 3 million people. In his current role, Dr. Small aims to stimulate medical innovation at UC Irvine by supporting faculty in their efforts to develop medical devices, software, and drugs, and to collaborate across the university and with the large private sector innovation ecosystem of our community.