Emily Goard Jacobs

Emily Goard Jacobs is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at UC Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on neuroendocrine systems, particularly exploring how hormonal changes (e.g., menopause, menstrual cycle) impact brain structure, function, and cognition. She holds a B.A. from Smith College and a PhD from UC Berkeley, with prior experience as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Key research areas include the Maternal Brain Project (tracking neural changes during pregnancy), the University of California Women’s Brain Initiative (advancing women’s health through neuroimaging), and studies on spatial navigation influenced by hormonal aging. Collaborations span disciplines, including work with physicists, neuroscientists, and engineers to analyze brain dynamics across timescales.

Her awards include the NARSAD Young Investigator Award and NIH Women’s Health Career Development Award. Jacobs advocates for gender equity in neuroscience, emphasizing the need to include women in research to address health disparities. Her lab uses cutting-edge techniques like functional MRI, hippocampal subfield imaging, and virtual reality to study how hormones shape brain function.

• Education: B.A. Neuroscience (Smith College), PhD Neuroscience (UC Berkeley)
• Affiliations: UCSB’s Brain Imaging Center, UCSB Neuroscience Program
• Grants: NIH R01 AG063843, Hellman Fellows Fund, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Her work on neuroendocrine aging and spatial cognition has identified sex-specific neural markers of cognitive decline, contributing to early detection of Alzheimer’s risk in midlife women. The lab also investigates contraceptive impacts on brain connectivity and stress resilience.