Founder
Founder, MNERVA Insights
Yushi Zhang is a behavioral scientist, educator, and strategic advisor whose work connects research with the design of human systems.
She founded MNERVA Insights in 2014. Her work spans organizational behavior, decision-making, education, and family governance, with experience across China and the United States.
She holds a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Yale University and a Bachelor of Individualized Studies in public health, management, and philosophy from the University of Minnesota.
She conducts mindfulness and organizational behavior research in Ellen Langer’s lab at Harvard, collaborating with Dr. Peter Aungle on study design, data analysis, and manuscript development. She has also taught Data & Decisions at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Her earlier work includes founding Murumamajia, a reproductive-health organization in China, and leading the development of the Yale Disability Studies Network.
Through MNERVA, she has designed and delivered education and advisory programs on entrepreneurship, interpersonal dynamics, and major life transitions. Her present focus brings those experiences into questions of governance, family systems, and succession.