Joyce Cohen, DVM, DACLAM

Director of partnerships

Joyce Cohen is currently the associate director of the Division of Animal Resources at the Emory National Primate Research Center. She is also an associate professor in Emory University School of Medicine's Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (DACLAM).

Dr. Cohen received her veterinary medical degree from The University of Pennsylvania and did her postdoctoral training in laboratory animal medicine at the Tri Institutional Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Medical College, and Rockefeller University. Prior to veterinary school, she studied behavioral primatology both as an undergraduate, as well as had the opportunity to attend graduate primatology courses in the New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology. Joyce joined the Emory National Primate Research Center (ENPRC) in 2006 working at the Field Station and transitioned to her current role as associate director in 2013. She oversees the Division of Animal Resources, which includes Animal Care, Animal Records, Behavioral Management, Colony Management, Environmental Health and Safety, Research Resources and Veterinary Medicine. Her research interests include a combination of laboratory animal medicine, veterinary medicine, collaborative infectious disease research and behavioral primatology. Joyce has led several successful animal donation efforts for both new world monkeys and chimpanzees from ENPRC for retirement over the past 10 years. She has been involved in and a grant recipient for numerous facility design projects for the benefit of the center's animals, including several rhesus macaque breeding buildings at the Field Station, automated feeders in socially housed monkey compounds, novel indoor/outdoor research animal housing, implementation of an RFID tracking system in social groups and is currently the principal investigator overseeing design of another new large breeding compound funded by an NIH C06 grant. She also serves as the Attending Veterinarian on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and as President of the Association of Primate Veterinarians between 2019-2022. Joyce strives to enhance welfare with innovative animal housing while facilitating support of critical research.

In her spare time, Joyce loves playing with her dogs by the lake, cuddling with her kitty cat and watching her daughter play soccer. She loves to travel around the world, especially going to see nonhuman primates in the wild! She also loves the ocean and SCUBA diving to explore all of the amazing ocean life.

Contact Joyce via email at: jcohen@fortheloveofprimates.org.