Leila Farahbakhsh

Leila Farahbakhsh is a clinical psychologist, art therapist, researcher, professional artist, and neurotechnology entrepreneur working at the intersection of mental health, art, neuroscience, and emerging technologies.

She is Co-Founder & CEO of NeuroInsight Aban, an interdisciplinary neurotechnology organization based within the Science and Technology Park ecosystem of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. Her work brings together expertise in clinical psychology, psychophysiology, neuroscience, neuromonitoring, art therapy, and human state regulation.

Her professional approach is grounded in the belief that creative and artistic processes can be understood not only as forms of expression, but also as meaningful psychological and neurophysiological experiences. This perspective has shaped her work in developing and delivering art-based therapeutic programs, emotional regulation interventions, interdisciplinary educational programs, and neuroscience-informed approaches to mental health.

She is also the founder of NeuroArt, a neuroscience-informed art therapy initiative developed to explore the relationship between artistic experience, emotional processing, the nervous system, and psychological wellbeing. NeuroArt seeks to preserve the human, creative, and relational foundations of art therapy while expanding its dialogue with neuroscience, psychophysiology, neuroarts, and contemporary research.

Her interdisciplinary work also extends to neurotechnology and adaptive human-state regulation. She has contributed to the development of original technological systems and is a co-inventor and clinical lead of a U.S. patent-pending closed-loop system designed for adaptive multimodal regulation of psychological and physiological states.

Alongside her clinical and research work, she has a longstanding background in visual arts and arts education. This combination of artistic practice, clinical psychology, research, and technological development has shaped a professional trajectory focused on building bridges between disciplines that are often treated separately.

Her current interests include art therapy, neuroarts, creative neuroscience, psychophysiology, EEG/sEMG-informed approaches, emotional regulation, meditation, arts in health, neurotechnology, and interdisciplinary mental health research.

She is particularly interested in international collaboration, joint research, professional exchange, and the development of culturally informed approaches that connect art therapy and neuroarts research with the needs of mental health practice in Iran.