Vanessa M. Brown receives a five-year NIH grant
Vanessa M. Brown, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, recently received a five-year $3.9 million NIH grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to further her research of new evaluation tools and treatment for anxiety disorders.
The NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS) R01 award is intended to support the research and career advancement of outstanding, exceptionally productive scientists who are in the early, formative stages of their careers.
Professor Brown, who studies reinforcement learning and decision-making in internalizing disorders, will use an interdisciplinary approach to investigate drivers of avoidance behavior in anxiety. This grant aims to: validate a novel computational model of avoidance using neural and behavioral data; use this model to test differences in avoidance behavior in people with anxiety; and assess whether perturbing behavior in line with this model can change real-world avoidance behavior in anxiety.
The long-term goal of Dr. Brown’s research is to advance understanding and treatment of psychopathology to reduce suffering from mental illness.