Elissa Epel, PhD

PhD, Yale University
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry

Phone: (415) 476-7648
Fax: (415) 476-7744
E-mail: eepel@lppi.ucsf.edu

UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment (COAST)
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
Department of Psychiatry

Research Interests:

My research bridges health psychology and neuroendocrinology. Neuroendocrinology offers a window into brain function, with implications for both mental and physical disorders. Specifically, I examine how chronic stress may dysregulate the neuroendocrine balance to be highly catabolic and deficient in counter-regulatory anabolic responses, which in turn may affect mood and rate of biological aging. Based on cognitive theories of stress, I am examining cognitive and affective predictors of physiological stress reactivity, in response to laboratory stimuli and in naturalistic environment s. I hope to further understand how different profiles of emotional reactivity to stress affect hormonal and cellular events, and may even impact rate of cellular aging (as measured by telomere length and telomerase activity). A second line of research examines why some people eat less during stress whereas others eat more. In particular, I am interested in identifying how profiles of emotional reactivity to stress may alter the reward value of food, eating behavior, insulin sensitivity, and abdominal fat distribution.

With my clinical and basic research colleagues, we have formed a new UCSF obesity center, COAST, which aims to determine the role of chronic stress in the current obesity epidemic.

Selected Publications:

Epel E, Burke H, Wolkowitz O. (2007). The psychoneuroendocrinology of aging: Anabolic and Catabolic hormones. In CM Aldwin, CL Park, A Spiro III (Eds.) Handbook of psychology of aging and health, Guilford Publications.

Epel E, Lin J, Wilhelm F, Wolkowitz O, Adler N, Dolbier C, Blackburn E. (2006). Cell aging in relation to stress arousal and cardiovascular disease risk factors.. Psychoneuroendocrionlogy, 31, 277-287.

Epel ES, Blackburn EH, Lin J, Dhabhar FS, Adler NE, Morrow JD, Cawthon RM. (2004). Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 101(49),17312-17315.

Epel E, McEwen B, Seeman T, Matthews K, Castellazzo G, Brownell K, Bell J, Ickovics J. (2000). Can stress shape your body? Consistently greater stress-induced cortisol secretion among women with abdominal fat. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 623-632.

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