Emily Jacobs

Biography

Emily Jacobs is a Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara and Director of the Ann S. Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative. Her body of research is redefining our understanding of the brain’s capacity to undergo dynamic neuroanatomical changes and plasticity well into adulthood. In 2024 her team published the first detailed map of the human brain across pregnancy and she leads multi-center study of neurological changes across the transition to menopause. Prior to UCSB, she held a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Medicine/Division of Women's Health at Brigham & Women's Hospital. She is a graduate of Smith College and UC Berkeley. Dr. Jacobs' serves on the Steering Committee of the Women’s Brain Health Coalition, the Milken Insitute’s Women’s Health Network, 51 Foundation, and the WHAM Research Collaborative to drive the national and international agenda on women’s health research. In recognition of her body of work, Dr. Jacobs was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation “Health and Society” Scholar, a National Institutes of Health Women's Health Fellow, and a National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science Fellow for "distinguished young scientists under 45." Science News named her one of the “Top 10 Scientists” to watch around the globe. In addition to research, Dr. Jacobs and her team partner with K-12 groups to advance girls' representation in STEM. Her work is featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, NPR, BBC, TED, Netflix, and MasterClass.