About
Our goal is to find better ways of creating durable knowledge. As professional learners—a physician and a physician/three-time world memory champion—we care about the nuances that make students powerful learners. At points along our own journeys, we’ve realized the learning habits we used to reach one level weren’t enough to get us to the next. This website is our way of exploring habits for efficient learning and the scientific evidence that backs them up. We tackle various learning projects—from medicine to language-learning—sharing our successes and failures. We believe learning how to learn is a lifelong journey of growth and joy, which is why we're a nonprofit dedicated to creating free, accessible content. Join us as our strategies continue to evolve.
Photo credit: Jay Ferchaud
Cathy Chen, MD
CO-FOUNDER
Cathy Chen graduated from Princeton University in 2014 with a degree in Chemical and Biological engineering. She received her M.D. from the University of Mississippi. She is currently a diagnostic radiology resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While Cathy isn't a competitive memorizer, she's talked shop with the world memory champion for years. Cathy works closely with Alex to adapt and enhance the memory palace technique for general learners. She uses their techniques in her daily studies. When she's not helping the memory champ remember where he left his wallet, Cathy's probably texting her sister or taking pics of the dog.
Photo credit: Tate Nations
Alex Mullen, MD
THREE-TIME WORLD MEMORY CHAMPION, CO-FOUNDER
Alex Mullen graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2014 with degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics and Statistics. He received his M.D. from the University of Mississippi. He is currently a diagnostic radiology resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Alex won three world memory championships (2015-17) and was the top-ranked memory athlete in the world from 2016-19. He is also the 2016 USA Memory Champion. Alex’s favorite events are cards and numbers. He is the first person to memorize the order of a deck of playing cards in under 20 seconds and the first to memorize more than 3,000 decimal digits in one hour. When not learning medicine or memorizing cards, Alex is probably walking the dog or eating guac with friends.