Janine SIMMONS

Biography

Dr. Janine M. Simmons serves as the Chief of the Individual Behavioral Processes Branch within the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging. Prior to taking this position, she ran the Social and Affective Neuroscience Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). At NIMH, Dr. Simmons served as a representative to the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) working group, the Office of Basic and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), and the Common Fund Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) initiative. She continues to co-Chair the Behavioral Ontology Development Working Group with OBSSR. Dr. Simmons attended Yale University and the UCLA School of Medicine, where she obtained her M.D., Ph.D. in Neurosciences. She completed a residency in General & Adult Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship within the NIMH Intramural Program. Her graduate and post-doctoral research focused on neural circuits underlying motivation and reward processing.