Jacob Hooker, PhD
Jacob Hooker is an Associate Professor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School, Associate Neuroscientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Directory of Radiochemistry at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. He holds affiliate appointments at the Broad Institute and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prof. Hooker currently serves as an Associate Editor for ACS Chemical Neuroscience, is a core faculty member for the MIT M+Vision Consortium and the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program. Dr. Hooker grew up in Asheville NC, received his undergraduate degrees at NC State University and then completed his PhD in chemistry at UC Berkeley. In 2007, he was named Goldhaber Distinguished Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratory and worked with National Medal of Science recipient, Dr. Joanna Fowler, to develop new imaging methods for neuroscience. In 2009, Dr. Hooker moved to Boston to begin is independent career at MGH and Harvard. That same year he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Obama. The citation from the President noted his strong scientific record and his unique commitment to science mentorship. He has since been recognized by several additional national awards including being named a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Science and was an inaugural recipient of the Talented 12 Award by C&E News. Prof. Hooker’s lab has the mission of accelerating the study of the living, human brain and nervous system through development of application of molecular imaging agents. The lab has developed and patented several imaging technologies for neuroscience including, a first-in-class radiotracer for neuroepigenetic imaging.