Mbemba Jabbi, Ph.D.

Mbemba Jabbi, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Dell Medical School.

Jabbi graduated with combined Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in experimental psychology and neuroanatomy from the University of Groningen, Netherlands, in 2002 and obtained a doctorate in clinical neuroscience from the University Medical Center Groningen in 2007. Prior to joining Dell Medical School, Jabbi did a Fogarty International Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2007 to 2011. He then completed his research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda in 2016. There, Jabbi lead the translational multicenter studies looking at how rare but penetrant genetic events influence affective processes.

Jabbi’s current research applies deep behavioral phenotyping and multimodal imaging genetics to better understand the neurogenetic basis for normal and dysregulated affective functioning. His lab seeks to contribute to the integrative characterization of how genes affect brain circuitry mediation of basic and higher-order adaptive affective functions. Jabbi’s long-term goal is to further use the insights gained from these studies to guide novel strategic identification of neurogenetic biomarkers for maladaptive affective dysfunctions.