UCL RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Research Interests

Psychobiology of health and disease; Health behaviour change; Ageing

Research Description

1. Psychobiology of health and disease - The purpose of this programme is to understand the biological processes through which social status and other psychosocial factors influence disease risk. It involves laboratory studies of the influence of psychosocial factors on cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and immune function, and naturalistic studies of blood pressure, cortisol and other measures during everyday life. This research is carried out in collaboration with Professor Michael Marmot and the Whitehall II study 2. Psychophysiology of coronary heart disease + This theme concerns the influence of behaviour and emotional factors on patients with advanced coronary artery disease. The purpose is to understand the role of emotional factors in the triggering of coronary ischaemia and acute coronary syndromes, to understand the evolution of depression in patients following acute coronary syndromes, and to investigate the influence of psychosocial factors on long-term adjustment and quality of life in coronary heart disease. 3. Health behaviour change - Behaviours such as dietary choice, smoking and physical exercise are important determinants of health and disease risk. We are carrying out studies of the determinants of health behaviours, and work on the use of behavioural counselling to modify risk behaviours. 4. Biology and happiness + This research focuses on the potentially protective effect of positive affect in physical health. It involves population-based studies and investigations of associations between affect and biology in everyday life. 5. Ageing and health. I have recently joined the management group for the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and am helping to coordinate the research on this larger population-based study http://www.ifs.org.uk/elsa/

UCL Collaborators

Michael Marmot, Jane Wardle, James Banks, Jean McEwen, Ian Zachary, Brian Henderson

External Collaborators

Juan Carlos Kaski (St. George’s UL), Daniel Kahneman (Princeton), Arthur Stone (Stony Brook), Lord L

Keywords

Conditions

Methods

Behavioural analysis, Computerised tomography, Functional MRI (fMRI), Haemodynamic monitoring, Cytokine assays, ELISA, Psychosocial research, Meta-analysis

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Publications

Teaching & Education Interests

Education Interests

Health psychology; psychobiology

Education Description

I am involved with the Health psychology MSC, and with PhD training in health psychology and psychobiology