Dr. Onken directs the Behavior Change and Interventions Program at the National Institute on Aging (NIA).  The goal of this program of research is to develop and test interventions that promote the health and well-being of individuals as they age.  Prior to joining NIA, Dr. Onken served as Chief of the Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Branch and the Associate Director for Treatment at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  She has championed a conceptual framework for behavioral intervention development that stresses the integration of basic science within the intervention development process to produce potent and <a href=”https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dbsr/stage-model-behavioral-intervention-development”>maximally implementable behavioral interventions</a>.  Dr. Onken received her Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and her Master’s and Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology from Northwestern University.  She completed her clinical internship at Cook County Hospital and has subsequently held a variety of academic, clinical and research scientist positions at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Medical School and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.  In addition to her current involvement in the NIH Common Fund SOBC initiative, she has taken the lead in numerous trans-NIH initiatives related to behavioral intervention development.  She is a “Fellow” of the Association for Psychological Science and a consulting editor for the journal, “Clinical Psychological Science.”