Lisa ONKEN

Biography

Lisa Onken directs the Behavior Change and Intervention program in the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging, NIH. She joined NIA in 2015, after serving as the Chief of the Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Branch and the Associate Director for Treatment at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH. Dr. Onken received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern University. Prior to joining NIH she held a variety of academic, clinical and research scientist positions at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Medical Center and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

At NIA, Dr. Onken administers a broad program of research on the development of behavioral interventions to promote the health and well-being of individuals as they age, including research on interventions to promote positive affect, reduce negative affect, foster sleep, and improve the emotional well-being and quality of life for those who provide care and for people who live with dementia. Using the NIH Stage Model, a comprehensive translational conceptual framework for principle-driven behavioral intervention development as a conceptual framework, she promotes the development of interventions that are maximally potent and scalable to reach those in need. In addition to leading the Roybal Translational Centers program she is a Project Scientist on the NIH Science of Behavior Change Program, and on the NIA AD/ADRD Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory.