About Cecilia McGough

Activist

Cecilia McGough, a New York City mental health activist, is the executive director of Students With Psychosis (SWP)), a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It empowers students and advocates through community, service, and collaboration. She founded SWP to build a worldwide support network.

Cecilia McGough is a Steering Committee Member at Headsup and a Neuropsychiatry Steering Committee Member at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).

NASA VASTS Mentor

Cecilia mentors at NASA Langley’s Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS) program and studied pulsar astronomy. She was a Global Shaper and task force member of the World Economic Forum.

Author and Pulsar Discovery

At 17, she co-discovered PSR J1930-1852, a pulsar with the widest known orbit around another neutron star. This achievement led to her co-authorship in the Astrophysical Journal and representation of the United States at the International Space Olympics in Russia.

Public Speaker

Cecilia is a keynote speaker, co-author, and consultant. She has autism and schizophrenia but does not let her diagnoses define her. She advised Healthevoices conferences in 2020 and 2022 and served on the planning committee for Yale’s Women’s Mental Health Conference from 2022 to 2024.

On TV

Her work as a radio astronomer is featured in the film "Little Green Men." Her advocacy journey is documented in the PBS documentary "Mysteries of Mental Illness," available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

With over 45 million views, Cecilia McGough’s journey has appeared in numerous media outlets. These include:

Featured in Media

Cecilia McGough’s journey, viewed over 45 million times, has been featured in top outlets.

Contact

About Starbound

In 2025, a group of 118 individuals, brought together by their applications for a zero-gravity parabolic flight competition hosted by the nonprofit Space for Humanity, embarked on an unexpected journey. The catalyst was a simple online conversation between two participants, one of whom, Kilo, suggested they form a community to connect and collaborate. Excited by the idea, the two reached out to the other applicants, inviting them to an Instagram group chat. Soon, 101 people—each with unique expertise—joined the conversation, eager to build something meaningful together.

The group chat buzzed with enthusiasm as members shared their backgrounds and aspirations. They discussed ways to improve humanity, plan meetups, and work on projects that reflected their collective passions. The group was a diverse mix: engineers tackling technical challenges, doctors and neuroscientists advancing health and cognition, scientists and physicists exploring new frontiers, and aviators with a deep knowledge of flight. Lawyers offered legal expertise, architects and a UX architect shaped innovative designs, and a space chiropractor brought specialized wellness insights. Software engineers contributed technical prowess, while designers, artists, content creators, and teachers infused creativity and education into the mix.

Inspired to create a shared platform, the group held a poll to name their initiative, and Starbound was chosen as the winner. One member took the lead, helping everyone set up bios and profiles and launching a blog on the aCo App, a digital platform designed to support their ambitions. The app provided tools to collaborate, manage ideas, organize events, and track projects and tasks. With profiles established and a growing list of ideas populating the app, Starbound became a dynamic hub where this community of innovators could share their visions, work together, and inspire one another to make a positive impact on the world.

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