Stories of Women in Neuroscience · Stories of WiN

Dr. Emily Jacobs

·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

And this is a similar pattern that we see during matrescence, where these hormones kind

It starts with curiosity. The host introduces Dr. Emily Jacobs as an associate professor at UCSB and director of the Annis Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative. Then the story rewinds. Jacobs remembers arriving at Smith College unsure where she was headed, tagging along with a roommate to neuroscience, and getting hooked in the first lecture. That class with Mary Harrington changed her path. It led to a declared major, school year research, and summer work that made neuroscience feel like a real choice. The conversation keeps that human scale even when the science gets technical. When hormones and brain health come up, Jacobs pushes back on the idea that hormones only matter for female brains. Her point is wider: hormones are strong neuromodulators for all sexes, moving through circadian, infradian, and seasonal rhythms that can change brain tissue and volume. What researchers still need is better human data. That is where the parallel study 28 and he comes in, focused on circadian rhythms and hormones. Pavel becomes the case study. Across 30 days, he visits around the morning hormonal peak and the evening dip so the team can map how the brain responds. The pattern catches attention. Jacobs describes gray matter volume and cortical thickness moving with the diurnal pulse, including changes in cortical and subcortical tissue. The ending comes back to daily life. After the lab work, she talks about walking the dog with her husband through the Santa Barbara foothills as a way to connect and debrief. That small ritual counts. When rain or schedule breaks it, she feels the difference in body and head.

As heard by us

A careful career profile that ties hormone research to larger questions about the brain.

Dr. Emily Jacobs' path starts with an undergraduate detour at Smith College and settles into a clear account of how early curiosity about the brain became a neuroscience career.

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Why you'd press play

Why Emily Jacobs treats hormones as a brain story, not a female-only footnote.

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