Patricia Janak is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University who studies the biological basis of behavior through associative learning.

[1] Janak applies this research to pathological behaviors, such as addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder, to improve understanding of how stimuli affect relapse and responses.

Using models based on theories of learning in combination with laboratory experiments,[16] Janak investigates associative processes and the hierarchical organization of relational and representational neural encoding.

[22][23] The fundamental aspects of learning and memory in the models she studies are basic to a broad range of human behaviors and can serve as a guide to intervention and therapies when capacities fail to develop normally or break down through disease.

[28] Janak has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on a variety of topics including psychology, data analysis, behavioral neuroscience, and drug addiction.