Jet Vonk, PhD, PhD, is a researcher specializing in neurolinguistics, cognitive science, and epidemiology. She earned her doctorate in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the City University of New York Graduate Center, with a focus on neurolinguistics and cognitive science. Dr. Vonk earned a second PhD in Epidemiology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, with a focus on neuroepidemiology.
Dr. Vonk’s research centers on developing innovative, language-based cognitive tools—particularly automated analysis of connected speech and item-level analyses of verbal fluency—for early detection, differential diagnosis, and longitudinal monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, including primary progressive aphasia. By integrating linguistic, neuroimaging, and epidemiological methods, her work aims to clarify the timing and mechanisms of cognitive and language decline, particularly early semantic changes and the roles of biological and sociocultural factors.
Dr. Vonk’s research at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center within the Weill Institute for Neurosciences has been supported by multiple competitive awards as Principal Investigator, including a Fulbright Scholarship, ZonMw Veni Award, and NIH K99/R00 and R01 funding.
A complete list of Dr. Vonk’s peer-reviewed publications is available here.