Jemma Cook, Ph.D.

Jemma Cook, Ph.D., began her career as a psychology undergraduate under Kennon A. Lattal, Ph.D. at WVU, where she earned a master’s and doctorate degree in psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis. Between earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees at WVU, Cook gained clinical experience as a behavioral technician for several years at the New England Center for Children, teaching children with developmental disabilities basic life and academic skills and addressing their severe maladaptive behavior. While there, Cook also earned a master’s degree from Northeastern University under Eileen Roscoe, Ph.D., BCBA-D, before obtaining her certification as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst. While at WVU, she taught introductory psychology and behavior principles, conducted basic behavioral research on the effects of various reinforcement parameters on behavior, resistance to extinction, and token economies. Cook continued clinical work as a graduate research assistant, teaching parents both in-person and via video conferencing to implement behavioral therapies and provided behavioral consultation in the local school system under Claire St. Peter, Ph.D., BCBA-D. Near the end of her time in graduate school, her research became focused on behavioral and environmental factors that influence relapse with potential applications to developing therapies for substance abuse. To pursue this line of research, she accepted a position as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Mississippi Medical Center under James Rowlett, Ph.D., and Donna Platt, Ph.D., to add behavioral pharmacology to her repertoire. There, she gained experience in conducting basic research related to studying the effects of drug abuse and developing potential pharmacological treatments. She also worked as the data manager for projects that provided medication therapy to individuals dealing with substance abuse and the impacts of living with HIV.

In recent years, Cook found herself regularly training new staff and students in behavioral research and its applications. She enjoys this part of her work and wanted it to be a part of her career going forward. To this end, she accepted her current position at WVU Tech, where she teaches courses in the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, philosophy of science, behavioral neuroscience, and behavioral pharmacology.

Cook’s areas of expertise include behavior analysis and behavioral pharmacology. Her work focuses on reinforcement parameters, extinction, and relapse phenomena as related to behavior broadly, with an emphasis on substance abuse. Cook hopes to encourage her students to understand how the behavior of humans and non-human animals interacts with and is maintained by the environment. With this understanding, she helps her students design experiments to expand our knowledge about behavior and inform the development of potential behavioral or pharmacotherapies.