Christian A. Navarro-Torres, Ph.D. is a cognitive neuroscientist with formal training in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, language science, and applied data analysis. He earned his Ph.D. in Language Science from the University of California, Irvine, after completing an M.S. in Cognitive Psychology at Penn State and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico. His research career has included postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and at Georgetown University, where his work focused on the intersection between experience-dependent neuroplasticity (such as bilingualism) and clinical assessment in patients with brain damage (e.g., aphasia, stroke) affecting language and cognition. 

CHRISTIAN NAVARRO-TORRES PH.D.

Christian received CIRS Literacy award at CIRSx conference in 2024

Christian is Co-Founder of CIRS Lab, the Scientific Director of The CIRS Research Foundation, and a Research Consultant for the Einstein Mission, which investigates erythromelalgia and CIRS. He has served as a consultant for MoldCo, is an organizer for events such as The CIRS Summit, and has contributed as a reviewer and associate editor for leading peer-reviewed journals and federal funding agencies. His scholarship has been recognized with grant and fellowship awards from National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the American Psychological Association (APA). 

Christian’s recent scientific work extends into environmental health and immune dysregulation, including publications and presentations on biotoxin illness, its multi-system and multi-symptom pathology, and treatment outcomes— with a particular interest in how CIRS-related brain changes may contribute to processes of neurodegeneration.

Equally important, his mission is grounded in lived experience. Christian is a complex, hypersensitive patient who has endured serious microbial colonizations—an underappreciated and often overlooked issue in the mainstream mold illness community—alongside tick-borne and protozoal co-infections. These overlapping comorbidities created a perplexing clinical profile that demanded self-advocacy, where his scientific background became essential to navigating conflicting medical advice and fragmented care.

Drawing from both his expertise and his personal recovery journey, Christian now provides training for physicians and clinicians on how to identify, understand, and treat patients with complex, multi-layered presentations. This includes specialized training on the use of NeuroQuant to assess brain injury patterns associated with CIRS and related comorbidities. In parallel, he provides education for patients—helping them build a healthy relationship with scientific knowledge and empowering them to advocate for themselves by making cutting-edge research accessible and understandable. His dual perspective, as both scientist and patient, allows him to connect with scholars, doctors, patients, and thought leaders while amplifying the patient voice in translational research.  

His mission is to create an intersecting space where academic scholars, doctors, patients, and companies collaborate to advance the scientific and medical understanding of CIRS. Through CIRS Lab and his wider collaborations, Christian is working to help build a future where rigorous science, clinical innovation, and patient empowerment converge to improve outcomes for those living with complex chronic illness.