Distinguished University Professor
Professor of Psychiatry and of Psychology
Director, Division of Health Psychology, Department of Psychiatry
S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine
Member, Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research
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What do you like best about practicing medicine at OSU Medical Center?
The depth and breadth of faculty expertise at Ohio State always amaze me. You can find collaborators with such a wide variety of skills and talents across the many disciplines.
What excites you most about the future of medicine?
I’m optimistic about the growing emphasis on interdisciplinary translational research, particularly biobehavioral research.
Name one of your medical career mentors and tell us what you learned from
him or her.
Bill Malarkey (William Malarkey, MD, director of Ohio State’s Clinical Research Center and associate director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research) is truly an outstanding physician-scholar. So much of what I know about the ways that behavior influences the endocrine system I learned from Bill. A very strong believer in mind-body medicine, he uses it in treating patients and in the research questions he addresses.
What advice do you have for young physicians early in their careers?
Read books by Robert Boice. He has published fascinating research on the behaviors that distinguish faculty who prosper from those who flounder. As part of his agreement with the new faculty hires he studied, he regularly dropped by their offices, unannounced, to watch their daily routines. His findings demonstrate that brief, daily writing sessions are reliably much more productive than waiting for big blocks of uninterrupted time.
Who in history would you most like to meet and why?
Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Joan of Arc — all extraordinarily impressive and effective leaders, despite fearsome opposition.
What are your hobbies?
In the late 1990s, I published two mystery novels in which the protagonist was, purely by coincidence, a female clinical psychologist in a medical school. For the next contract, the publisher wanted a book a year — not a reasonable arrangement given the demands of my day job.
Star Colleague: Ronald Glaser, PhD, has been an outstanding leader for the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, bringing together a remarkable group of interdisciplinary researchers, that includes experts in psychology, immunology, virology, endocrinology, oncology, molecular biology, behavior, biostatistics and the neurosciences, to study how the brain interacts with the body’s immune system. We share a close working relationship. (Dr. Ronald Glaser is director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, professor of Internal Medicine, of Environmental Health Sciences, and of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics.)
CV summary
Undergraduate Degree: BA, Psychology, University of Oklahoma (minor: Biological Sciences)
PhD Degree: Clinical Psychology, University of Miami
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Adult Clinical Psychology, University of Rochester
Internship: Clinical Psychology, Baylor College of Medicine
National Committees or Board Positions:
• President, Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
• Elected Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
• Reviewer: National Cancer Institute; National Institute on Aging
• Associate Editor: Psychophysiology
• Editorial Board: British Journal of Health Psychology; Journal of Behavioral Medicine; Women’s Health: Research on Gender Behaviors and Policy; Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; Journal of Gerontology; Journal of Psychological Sciences; Psychosomatic Medicine; Health Psychology; Brain, Behavior and Immunity
Clinical Interests: Psychoneuroimmunology; wound healing.
Research Interests: Stress and immune function; wound healing.
Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser has been an inspiration to many post-doctorate students who have become directors of the programs that they teach. Dr. Colvin at CCC-Metro sumed it up best when stating ” you have to respect proven leadership in your research” (Colvin, 2011).