About the Founder

I am Dr. Valerie Toodle, a Black Ph.D. scientist trained at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the founder of The BLACKbox Scientific Collective.

I built BLACKbox Scientific at the intersection of biology, chemistry, artificial intelligence, and evidence-based critique.

Across my work, one question has always mattered most:

What is actually supported by the evidence?

A Scientist Shaped by Evidence

My scientific training taught me to think carefully about biological mechanisms, translational claims, and the difference between possibility and proof.

Patent examination sharpened that instinct. It trained me to separate what is claimed from what is actually supported.

Forensic science deepened it in a way I could not have learned from theory alone. In New York City, where I worked in person during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence was tied to names, families, loss, dignity, and public trust. That experience made careful documentation, honest uncertainty, and getting the details right feel urgent in a way that never left me.

AI evaluation brought all of those threads together.

The BLACKbox Scientific Collective (BBSC) is the result. 

The BBSC is a scientific validation company built upon the belief that evidence must be examined, reasoning must be pressure-tested, and powerful systems must be looked into before they shape science, medicine, and artificial intelligence.

We exist because confident answers are not enough.

The reasoning has to hold.

Why I Built BLACKbox Scientific

I built BLACKbox Scientific because I believe scientific knowledge should not be locked behind status, wealth, credentials, or proximity to power.

I also understand the distrust surrounding artificial intelligence. That distrust is not irrational. As a Black woman, I know what it feels like when powerful systems are built without us, tested on us, used against us, or explained to us after the decisions have already been made.

That is exactly why WE need to be at the table.

Not as decoration. Not as an afterthought. Not only as users or data points.

We need to be asking the questions, testing the systems, challenging the claims, examining the evidence, and shaping what comes next.

Selected Credentials

Ph.D. in Pathobiology, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Published research in neurobiology and translational science

Former USPTO patent examiner with experience evaluating scientific and technical claims

Forensic science experience in New York City, including in-person work during the COVID-19 pandemic

AI evaluation experience across biological, chemical, and scientific reasoning tasks

Founder’s Note

BLACKbox Scientific is for the benefit of everyone, which is why it’s not for everybody.

It is built with Black people in mind. This includes not only Black scientists and physicians, but also Black communities, patients, students, families, workers, thinkers, and decision-makers.

The work is not to lower the standard.

The work is to open the door without compromising it.

Founded on Juneteenth. Built to look inside.

Rooted in New Orleans, The BBSC carries a simple belief that rigorous work can still be welcoming work.

Contact The BBSC

Have a model, method, paper, claim, or scientific question that needs a sharper look?

Please submit an inquiry: BLACKbox Scientific Collective - Inquiry Form