Jessica A. Cooper

Jessica A. Cooper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, where she serves as Assistant Director of the Translational Research in Affective Disorders (TReAD) Laboratory under Dr. Michael Treadway.

Her research focuses on decision-making neurobiology and reward processing, examining how stress, aging, individual differences, and inflammatory processes impact reinforcement learning and motivational circuits. Key areas include computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in depression and psychosis, inflammation-depression interactions, and sex-specific drug effects on reward processing.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on translational immunopsychiatry, particularly TNF-alpha antagonism trials for motivational deficits in high-inflammation depression, alongside innovative work on spontaneous thought dynamics and social learning across the lifespan.

While no specific awards are listed in available sources, her work demonstrates significant contributions to understanding corticostriatal circuitry in affective disorders through multimodal approaches including fMRI, computational modeling, and pharmacological challenges.

As Assistant Director of the TReAD Lab, Dr. Cooper mentors research staff and contributes to studies investigating neural mechanisms of depression, with particular focus on stress-induced alterations in glutamatergic signaling and inflammatory pathways. The laboratory maintains active collaborations across Emory's neuroscience and immunology departments.

The TReAD Lab operates within Emory's robust neuroscience ecosystem, utilizing advanced neuroimaging facilities and maintaining partnerships with clinical departments for patient recruitment in mechanistic treatment trials.