Dr. Joseph is an Afro-Latina nurse scientist, educator, and philanthropist who was born and raised in Venezuela, South America. As an international expert in chemosensation and metabolic diseases, she bridges the intersections of nursing, science, nutrition, public health, policy, and health disparities. She is a 2019 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Lasker Scholar and 2018 Distinguished Scholar. She is Chief of the Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism in the Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism with a dual appointment at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). She is the 2022-24 America Academy of Nursing Fellow at the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Joseph leads a multidimensional translational research program combining research and clinical practice focused on chemosensation (taste and smell). Dr. Joseph and her group are conducting pre-clinical, clinical and translational studies that aims to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and management of chemosensory disorders and symptoms. Her program of research aims to understand neurological and molecular mechanisms underlying chemosensation (taste, smell & chemesthesis) and motivational pathways of ingestive behaviors in individuals with obesity and alcohol and substance use disorders. Since 2020, Dr. Joseph and her team began investigating the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the chemical senses and its post-acute sequelaeDr. Joseph is one of the co-founders of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research (GCCR) aim to foster the advancement of chemosensory science at large, allowing the possibility to test larger samples of participants cross-culturally, strengthening the reliability and validity of chemosensory science across many domains. During COVID-19 pandemic, the GCCR led studies in 35 different languages around the world and showed that COVID-19 was associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis. To date, she has served as Principal Investigator or Associate Investigator on approximately 20 research projects and has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles, as well as several book chapters and one textbook. Her research has been covered by several media outlets nationally and internationally, including the New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, Hippo Hive Latin-American among others. Dr. Joseph has received numerous awards and is recognized among the top emerging nurse scientists in the United States.
Dr. Joseph is a leader of national and global nonprofit organizations dedicated to decreasing health disparities and improving healthcare access in vulnerable communities. Her background as a nurse scientist and a woman of color has influenced her commitment to increase diversity in STEM-related fields. Dr. Joseph is a co-founder of the Latino Nurses Network, which focuses on building a strong network of support for Latino nurse leaders to effect change in health care policy, education, and practice. Dr. Joseph is actively engaged in developing outreach and training initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in biomedical research and training programs at NIH and internationally through her leadership of national and global non-profits. She is the past Vice-President of the Amazing Grace Children’s Foundation based in Ghana and serves on the advisory board for the organization. Within the organization, she has led initiatives to decrease health disparities and to develop training opportunities for local students and clinicians. Additionally, she serves as the Director of Mentorship for the African Research Academy for Women based in Ghana and USA. She is a Founding Strategic Advisor of the Smell and Taste Association of North America.
Dr. Joseph received an Associate Degree in Applied Sciences in Nursing at Hostos Community College, a BSN from the College of New Rochelle, and an MS with a specialty as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Pace University. She completed a PhD in nursing with a focus in genomics at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted her PhD work at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. She then completed a Clinical and Translational Postdoctoral Fellowship focused on genomics, nutrition, and gastrointestinal diseases at the NINR, which was supported by the Office of Workforce Diversity. Dr. Joseph is a certified nurse practitioner with clinical privileges at the NIH Clinical Center and outside NIH. Dr. Joseph is the second nurse in the country to receive the Lasker Clinical Scholars Award, a prestigious grant given by NIH and the Lasker Foundation. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a Fellow of the Transcultural Nursing Society.