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Barbara Banz, PhD

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
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About

Titles

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Biography

Dr. Barbara C. Banz is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine where she leads the Yale Developmental Neurocognitive Driving Simulation Research Center (DrivSim Lab). She earned her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University. Dr. Banz completed a three-year T32 postdoctoral fellowship (NIAAA/NIDA) focused on addiction neuroscience in adolescents and young adults in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Banz’s graduate and early postdoctoral research was largely focused on using neurocognitive and neuropsychological testing, electrophysiology, and functional magnetic resonance imaging to build a neurocognitive profile of college-aged drinkers. In 2017, Dr. Banz joined the DEM and the Yale DrivSim Lab as a postdoctoral associate. As a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in youth alcohol use, her ongoing research is aimed to develop a profile of how alcohol and drug use during youth use translates to neurocognitive functioning and real-world implications among young drivers. In the Yale DrivSim Lab, Dr. Banz designs and builds high-fidelity driving simulation studies in order bridge cognitive neuroscience with real-world application. Through her multidisciplinary and translational research program within the Yale DrivSim Lab, Dr. Banz works to transform her novel empirical work to real-world meaningful impact; understanding the brain to save the lives of teens and young adults to they can thrive in early adulthood and beyond.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Yale University School of Medicine (2017)
NIAAA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow
Yale University School of Medicine (2015)
PhD
Colorado State University, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience (2014)
MS
Colorado State University, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience (2010)
BS
Shippensburg University, Psychology (2008)

Research

Overview

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Adolescent Development; Alcoholism; Automobile Driving; Binge Drinking; Cannabis; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Translational Research, Biomedical; Young Adult

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Barbara Banz's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine

  • honor

    Outstanding Oral Presentation

  • honor

    Junior Investigator Award

  • honor

    New Investigator Award

  • honor

    Psi Chi National Honor Society