I have expertise that bridges multiple fields to understand the effects of stress on health. These fields include psychology, medicine, basic science, exercise/wellness, biostatistics, and clinical trials, among others. I am especially interested in how being more “mindful” can reduce stress, promote health, and prevent common & costly stress-related disorders, from insomnia and depression, to chronic pain and cardiovascular disease.

Working with students and faculty across disciplines and across institutions, we are able to integrate basic, clinical, and translational science to better understand how mindfulness can reduce stress and improve health and wellness. In addition to studying clinical outcomes of mindfulness training, we also investigate the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness. These mechanisms include a number of biological and behavioral pathways, ranging from sleep patterns, to stress physiology and stress hormones, to emotion regulation, immune function, and gene expression – all of which are implicated in chronic disease risk.

I am particularly interested in the concept of “mindful emotion regulation” and have a growing interest in the intersection between mindfulness and the “omics” sciences (genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, etc.).