Fostering Change Podcast | Episode 286 | David Sussillo

On this episode of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer is joined by David Sussillo, a neuroscientist, author, and former youth who experienced a childhood marked by instability, poverty, and time in group homes.

His story begins in environments many children in foster care and group settings know all too well — uncertainty, trauma, and systems that don’t always provide the support they should. But his story doesn’t end there. Through a combination of resilience, critical intervention, and moments where someone stepped in, David found a path forward. Today, he is a leading neuroscientist who has worked at Stanford, Google, and Meta, studying the very thing that shaped his life: the human brain.

His memoir, Emergence, is not just a story of survival — it is a powerful reminder of what can happen when even one opportunity changes the trajectory of a child’s life.

This conversation challenges us to ask a difficult but necessary question: how many children are out there right now, just one moment away from a different future?

Episode Highlights

Growing up in instability, poverty, and group home environments
How trauma shapes memory, identity, and development
The role of mentors, teachers, and small interventions
From survival to success in neuroscience and research
Reflecting on resilience, loss, and the paths not taken

David Sussillo is a neuroscientist, author, and adjunct professor at Stanford University. After a childhood marked by instability and time in group homes, he earned a PhD in computational neuroscience from Columbia University and has worked at leading institutions, including Google Brain and Meta.

His memoir, Emergence: A Memoir of Boyhood, Computation, and the Mysteries of Mind, tells the story of his journey from trauma to transformation.

To find out more about Comfort Cases, please visit our website: www.comfortcases.org.

You can also follow us on our social media channels:

To listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change, please visit: www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.

📩 Have thoughts or questions? Reach out at fosteringchange@comfortcases.org —we’d love to hear from you!