Shelly B. Flagel is an American behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the underlying brain mechanisms of reward and addiction. She is an associate professor of psychiatry in the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Early life and education

Flagel was born and raised in

Middletown, Ohio Middletown is a city in Butler County, Ohio, Butler and Warren County, Ohio, Warren counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 50,987 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in sou ...

. She completed a bachelor of science with honors in biopsychology at

(UM). Flagel did an undergraduate thesis project under her mentor Israel Liberzon. She earned a doctor of philosophy in neuroscience at UM. Her doctoral advisors were Delia M. Vazquez and Terry E. Robinson. She investigated the impact of early life stress on drug-taking behavior in adults. Flagel conducted postdoctoral research in Huda Akil's laboratory.

Career and research

Following her postdoctoral research, Flagel started her lab in the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan in 2011 and is now an associate professor in the department of psychiatry in the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at UM. She investigates the individual differences in addiction and impulse control disorders, reward learning, and motivated behavior neurobiology. Her work is discussed in the Encyclopedia of

Psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek ; ; and ) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, behavior, judgment and evaluation, and memory. It is distinguished from neuropsychopharmacology, which emphasizes ...

, T''he Scientist Magazin''''e,''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

, explaining addiction in layman terms, and discussing if there are any inherent factors, and the issues of how the brain operates control (willpower).

Personal life

Flagel has two sons.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flagel, Shelly Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Middletown, Ohio Scientists from Ohio University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty American women neuroscientists American neuroscientists 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists American women academics