Dr. Jones received her Ph.D. in Medical Neurobiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. During her graduate training, Dr. Jones also worked full-time as a vivo pharmacologist on several discovery teams focused on the development of novel therapeutics for the treatments of psychiatric and neurologic disorders in the Neuroscience Division at the Lilly Research Laboratories. She is currently Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Director of Behavioral Pharmacology for the Vanderbilt Program in Drug Discovery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Dr. Jones’ current research interests are focused on the development of in vivo preclinical models and the discovery and development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment and prevention of addiction, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. Her team is dedicated to utilizing translational approaches, including assessment of changes in behavior, neurochemistry and imaging endpoints such as positive emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to explore the underlying mechanisms of novel ligands targeting different G protein-coupled receptors and transporters within the central nervous systems and the implications of these effects on different brain disease states.