Jennifer R. Fonda

Jennifer R. Fonda, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a Research Health Scientist at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System. She serves as the Director of Biostatistics, Informatics, and Data Science at the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders Center (TRACTS), a VA Rehabilitation Research and Development National Network.

• PhD, Boston University
• MA, Boston University
• BA, Boston University

With approximately 20 years of experience, Dr. Fonda specializes in advanced biostatistics and epidemiologic methods focused on addiction, chronic pain, suicide prevention, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans. Her research leverages large electronic medical record databases from the VA, Department of Defense, National Death Index, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, examining complex relationships between military exposures and health outcomes.

Dr. Fonda's recent publications reveal a strong focus on veterans' health, particularly examining the intersections of TBI, PTSD, and various health outcomes using sophisticated statistical methods. Her work with the TRACTS longitudinal cohort demonstrates increasing attention to opioid use disorder, dementia risk factors, and physiological impacts of military service, especially blast exposure, with significant implications for clinical interventions.

Dr. Fonda is the principal investigator of a VA CSR&D CDA-2 grant building predictor profiles for opioid use disorder and overdose among post-9/11 Veterans. She also serves as a co-investigator for an NIH randomized clinical trial and consultant for two VA RR&D CDA-2 grants, demonstrating consistent funding support for her critical work in veterans' health.

As an educator, Dr. Fonda has taught statistics and epidemiology courses for 20 years. She developed and co-directs the Basic Biostatistics and Research Design Bootcamp and Advanced Statistics seminar series through the Neuropsychiatry Translational Research Fellowship Program, attended by researchers and clinicians across multiple institutions. She also teaches Introduction to Epidemiology at Harvard Extension School.

At TRACTS, Dr. Fonda has played a central role for over 10 years in designing and managing this longitudinal study examining biological function, clinical and psychosocial function, lifetime head trauma, deployment experience, neuropsychological function, and neural integrity in veterans, making substantial contributions to understanding complex veteran health issues.