Dr. George Slavich
As a Branco Weiss fellow, Dr. George Slavich’s research examines what social experiences are relevant for emotional and physical health, and which neural and peripheral mediators are responsible for translating the external social environment into the internal physical environment of disease pathogenesis.
Born
USA
Studies
- Undergraduate and graduate studies in Psychology and Communication at Stanford University, USA
- PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon, USA
- Clinical Psychology Intern at McLean Hospital, USA
- Clinical Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, USA
- Postdoctoral training in Psychoneuroimmunology, first as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Postdoctoral Fellow in the Health Psychology Program at UCSF and then as a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychoneuroimmunology at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA, USA
Dr. Slavich is now an assistant professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a research scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, where he directs the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research.
Major Awards
- Western Psychological Association Early Career Research Award 2012
- Neal E. Miller New Investigator Award 2011
- Enrico E. Jones Early Career Award for Research in Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology 2011
- Robert E. Harris Award for Health Psychology 2009
- Beck Institute Scholar, Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research 2008-2009
- National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2007-2010
- Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award 2005
- Albert Bandura Graduate Research Award 2004
In the News
The Atlantic: How Small Events Trigger Depression
UCLA Newsroom: Sweating the Small Stuff
Women's Health Magazine: Experiencing High Anxiety
UCLA Newsroom: Stress Gets Under Our Skin
Society in Science Fellow Since
2009
Research Category
Psychoneuroimmunology
Research Location
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology
University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Background
The notion that the social environment is intimately related to human health and wellbeing is not new. These associations have been observed by doctors and lay people for centuries, and a substantial body of research now exists showing that social stressors increase risk for a variety of ailments, including cardiovascular disease, infectious illnesses, some types of cancer, and depression. Although these relations may seem obvious, little is known about how the social environment “gets under the skin” to affect health.
One reason for this is that the social environment is often conceptualized and measured in very crude ways. As a result, it is unclear whether some stressors are more psychologically deleterious than others and, if so, why. In addition, very few studies investigate stress-related phenomena at multiple levels of analysis. Consequently, very little is known about how biological processes are influenced by cognitive and emotional processes and, furthermore, how each of these processes is regulated by the external social world.
Details of Research
Dr. Slavich is particularly interested in how social stressors promote disorders with an inflammatory component, including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, ovarian and breast cancer, and depression. This research is couched within a larger analysis of how technological advancements, such as genomic mapping and fMRI, shape societal beliefs about human health and wellbeing. His research bridges social, psychological, and biological domains of functioning by employing:
- interview- and computer-based methods for measuring life stress
- laboratory-based procedures for quantifying neuroendocrine and immune system activity
- fMRI-based methods for assessing neural activity
In doing so, the aim is to elucidate how social stressors promote susceptibility to disorders that cause significant public concern.
