Unlock the science behind how taste, smell, and the brain shape our health. In this episode of The Director’s Desk, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya sits down with Dr. Paule Joseph—Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, Tenure-Track Investigator, and Chief of the Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism (SenSMet) at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Dr. Joseph shares her career journey and groundbreaking research on chemosensation, metabolism, and ingestive behavior. Her team studies how the brain interprets taste, smell, and chemesthetic signals—and how these pathways change in conditions like obesity, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorders. She also discusses her clinical-translational work, innovative psychophysical methods, fMRI imaging, rodent models, and SenSMet’s research on COVID-19–related smell and taste loss.

If you’re interested in neuroscience, metabolic health, sensory science, translational research, or the future of precision health, this conversation is for you.

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