Brief Biography
Farheen Akbar joined the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) in December 2016. She is a Health Science Policy analyst at OBSSR, providing guidance on planning, policy development, and analysis necessary for key policy and program decisions by the NIH leadership. Farheen serves as the point person on collaborations with the NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis, creating and improving tools that will better evaluate the behavioral and social sciences funded by the NIH. Prior to joining OBSSR, Farheen was at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). As a scientific analyst at NIA’s Office of Planning, Analysis, and Evaluation she oversaw congressional reporting initiatives, program evaluations, and portfolio analysis for the Institute. She also served as a health scientist specialist in the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at NIA. There she worked with senior staff to develop program areas and managed projects in behavioral medicine, health psychology, cognitive aging, health disparities, and interventions related to behavioral and social research on aging. Before coming to the NIH, Farheen was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow in the Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, GA. During her year at the CDC, she led an evaluation of the national tobacco surveillance systems. Farheen holds a Masters of Public Health and a B.S. in psychology and health sciences from the University of Florida.
