Scott M. Hayes, Ph.D.

Scott Hayes, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a core member of the Chronic Brain Injury Initiative at The Ohio State University. He serves as Director of The Buckeye Brain Aging Lab (the B-BAL). Dr. Hayes is a licensed clinical psychologist (neuropsychologist) with expertise in memory, aging, and brain imaging. He serves as the Treasurer for the International Society of Behavioural Neuroscience, is a standing member of the National Institutes of Health Aging Systems and Geriatrics Study Section, and won the 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award from the Department of Psychology at Ohio State. A primary theme of his research program is to examine the relationships between modifiable lifestyle factors (physical activity, fitness, nutrition, sleep) and their relationship with cognitive and brain health. One of the goals of the lab is to identify which modifiable variables are most effective for slowing age- and Alzheimer’s disease-related cognitive and brain decline. He works with healthy adults, Senior Olympians, older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Hayes uses structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the brain and standardized and experimental tasks to assess cognitive and physical performance. His research program is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Department of Defense, and private foundations.

Dr. Hayes graduated from Skidmore College (Biology, Psychology) and completed his doctoral work in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology) at the University of Arizona. He completed an NRSA-funded cognitive neuroscience-clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University and the Bryan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Duke University Medical Center, and then worked at the Boston University Memory Disorders Research Center and served as the Associate Director for the Neuroimaging Research for Veterans Center at the VA Boston Healthcare System before joining Ohio State in 2018. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, and watching the Buckeyes!