During this time, she discussed her family history and how it furthered her ambition to pursue science in order to positively influence others.

After finishing psychiatry residency, she joined the faculty at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, working on PET scan research projects in addition to clinical duties.

Volkow spent most of her professional career at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions.

She was also appointed as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stony Brook University and as Associate Dean for its Medical School.

[1][14] Volkow concludes that abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex create a feeling of need or craving that people with addictions find difficult to prevent.

[17][1] Volkow is the first person from the NIH to visit the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.