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Behavioral Medicine Program Faculty

James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D.
Dr. Blumenthal is a Professor of Medical Psychology at Duke University and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He is also a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology: Social and Health Sciences at Duke University. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington and completed a pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship from Duke University. Among his honors include his being awarded fellowship status in the American Psychological Association in Divisions 38 (Health), 20 (Aging), and 12 (Clinical) as well as in the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. He is one of the founding fellows of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and is past president of the American Psychosomatic Society and president-elect of Division 38 (Health Psychology) in the American Psychological Association. His research focuses on psychosocial factors and health and behavioral interventions in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. Dr. Blumenthal is the principal investigator for the Smart Heart Study, INSPIRE, SMILE, and ENRICHD.

Representative Publications
Blumenthal, J.A., Jiang, W., Waugh, R.A., Frid, D.J., Morris, J.J., Coleman, R.E., Hanson, M., Babyak, M., Thyrum, E.T., Krantz, D.S. & O’Connor, C. Mental stress-induced ischemia in the laboratory and ambulatory ischemia during daily life: association and hemodynamic features. Circulation, 92: 2102-2108, 1995.

Jiang, W., Babyak, M., Krantz, D.S., Waugh, R.A., Coleman, R.E., Hanson, M.M., Frid, D.J., McNulty, S., Morris, J.J., O’Connor, C.M. & Blumenthal, J.A. Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia and cardiac events. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275: 1651-1656, 1996.

Gullette, E.C.D., Blumenthal, J.A., Babyak, M., Jiang, W., Waugh, R.A., Frid, D.J., O’Connor, C.M., Morris, J.J. & Krantz, D.S. Effects of mental stress on myocardial ischemia during daily life. Journal of the American Medical Association, 277: 1521-1526, 1997.

Blumenthal, J.A., Jiang, W., Babyak, M., Krantz, D., Frid, D., Coleman, R.E., Waugh, R., Hanson, M., Appelbaum, M., O'Connor, C. & Morris, J.J. Stress management and exercise training in cardiac patients with myocardial ischemia: effects on prognosis and evaluation of mechanisms. Archives of Internal Medicine, 157: 2213-2223, 1997.

Blumenthal, J.A., O’Connor, C., Hinderliter, A., Fath, K., Hegde, S.B., Miller, G., Puma, J., Sessions, W., Sheps, D., Zakhary, B., & Williams, R.B. Psychosocial factors and coronary disease. A national multicenter trial (ENRICHD) with a North Carolina focus. North Carolina Medical Journal, 58:6, 440-444, 1997.

Rozanski, A., Blumenthal, J.A., Kaplan, J. Impact of Psychological factors on the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and implications for therapy. Circulation, 99: 2192-2217, 1999.

Blumenthal, J.A., Babyak, M.A., Moore, K.A., Craighead, W.E., Herman, S., Khatri, P., Waugh, R., Napolitano, M., Forman, L.M., Appelbaum, M., Doraiswamy, P.M., & Krishnan, R. Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159, 19: 2349-2356, 1999.

Blumenthal, J.A., Sherwood, A., Gullette, E.C.D., Babyak, M.A., Waugh, R., Georgiades, A., Craidhead, L.W., Tweedy, D., Feinglos, M., Appelbaum, M., Hayano, J., and Hinderliter, A. Exercise and Weight Loss Reduce Blood Pressure in Men and Women with Mild Hypertension. Archives of Internal Medicine, 160: 1947-1958, 2000.

Andrew Sherwood, Ph.D.
Andrew Sherwood was born and educated in England. He received his Ph.D. in psychophysiology from the University of Hull in 1982, working with Dr. Jasper Brener. He moved to the United States in 1982 to receive post-doctoral training in cardiovascular psychophysiology in the laboratory of the late Dr. Paul A. Obrist, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He remained on the faculty at UNC until 1993, when he was appointed Associate Professor of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Sherwood is a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Dr. Sherwood's research focuses on the role of bio-behavioral interactions in the pathogenesis, progression and amelioration of cardiovascular disease. He is principal investigator for the DISCOVER study.

Representative Publications
Sherwood A, Hinderliter AL: Responsiveness to Alpha- and Beta-adrenergic receptor agonists: Effects of race in borderline hypertensive compared to normotensive men. American Journal of Hypertension 6:630-635, 1993.

Sherwood A, Hinderliter AL, Light KC: Physiological determinants of hyperreactivity to stress in borderline hypertension. Hypertension 25:384-390, 1995.

Sherwood A, May CW, Siegel WC, Blumenthal JA: Ethnic differences in hemodynamic responses to stress in hypertensive men and women. American Journal of Hypertension 8:368-374, 1995.

Sherwood A, Turner JR: Hemodynamic responses during psychological stress: Implications for studying disease processes. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2:193-218, 1995.

Sherwood, A., Johnson, K., Blumenthal, J.A. & Hinderliter, A.H. Endothelial function and cardiovascular hemodynamics during stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 365-370, 1999.

Carels, R.A., Blumenthal, J.A., & Sherwood, A. Emotional reactivity during daily life: Relationship to psychosocial functioning and ambulatory blood pressure. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 36, 25-33, 2000.

 

Michael Babyak, Ph.D.
Michael Babyak is a Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology.  He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1995 from the University of Kansas, where he was a student of the late B. Kent Houston. Prior to pursuing his doctoral degree in psychology, he worked as a registered nurse in both psychiatry and medical intensive care units. Dr. Babyak has been closely involved in research on psychosocial factors in hypertension, myocardial ischemia, depression, and lung transplantation. His primary interest is in the development and application of statistical models in these areas. He has had extensive experience as a statistical consultant in both the academic and commercial sectors. Most recently he has been interested in exploratory and inductive data techniques, such as clustering and graphical analysis. He is a co-investigator for the Smart Heart study, the INSPIRE study, and the SMILE study.

Representative Publications
Blumenthal, J.A., Babyak, M.A., Moore, K.A., Craighead, W.E., Herman, S., Khatri, P., Waugh, R., Napolitano, M., Forman, L.M., Appelbaum, M., Doraiswamy, P.M., & Krishnan, R. Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159, 19: 2349-2356, 1999.

Khatri, P., Babyak, M.A., Clancy, C., Davis, R., Croughwell, N., Newman, M., Reves, J.G., Mark, D.B., & Blumenthal, J.A. Perception of cognitive function in older adults following coronary artery bypass surgery. Health Psychology, 18, 3: 301-306, 1999.

Carels, R.A., Sherwood, A., Babyak, M., Gullette, E.C.D., Coleman, R.E., Waugh, R., Jiang, W., & Blumenthal, J.A. Emotional responsivity and transient myocardial ischemia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67,4: 605-610, 1999.

Green, S. B., Robertson, M. & Babyak, M. A. (1998). A Monte Carlo investigation of methods for controlling Type I errors with specification searches in structural equation modeling. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 33, 364-384.

Brummett, B. H., Maynard, K. E., Babyak, M. A., Haney, T. L., Siegler, I. , Helms, M. J., & Barefoot, J. C. (1998). Measures of hostility as predictors of facial affect during social interaction: Evidence for construct validity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 1-7.

Brummett, B. H., Babyak, M. A., Barefoot, J. C., Bosworth, H. B., Clapp-Channing, N. E., Siegler, I. C., Williams, R. B., Mark, D. B. (1998). Social support and hostility as predictors of depressive symptoms in cardiac patient one month following hospitalization: A prospective study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 707-713.

Blumenthal, J. A., Jiang, W., Babyak, M. A., Krantz, D. S., Waugh, R. A., Coleman, E., Hanson, M. M., Frid, D. J., McNulty, S., Morris, J. J., & O'Connor, C. M. (1997). Stress management and exercise treatment in cardiac patients with myocardial ischemia: Effects on prognosis and mechanisms. Archives of Internal Medicine, 157, 2213-2223.

Gullette, E. C. D., Blumenthal, J. A., Babyak, M. A., Jiang, W., Waugh, R. A., Frid, D. J., O'Connor, C. M., Morris, J. J., & Krantz, D. S. (1997). Effects of mental stress on myocardial ischemia during daily life. JAMA, 277, 1521-1526.

Green, S. B. & Babyak, M. A. (1997). Control of type I error in structural equation models. Journal of Multivariate Behavioral Research, 32, 39-51.

Houston, B. K., Babyak, M. A., Chesney, M., Black, G., & Ragland, D. (1997). Behavioral clusters and all-cause mortality in the Western Collaborative Group Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 59, 5-12.

Jiang, W., Babyak, M. A., Krantz, D. S., Waugh, R. A., Coleman, E., Hanson, M. M., Frid, D. J., McNulty, S., Morris, J. J., O'Connor, C. M., & Blumenthal, J. A. (1996). Mental stress-induced transient myocardial ischemia predicts clinical events in patients with coronary heart disease. JAMA, 275, 1651-1656.

Favorite Talk:
Babyak, M. A. (Symposium). Dichotomizing quantitative variables is bad behavioral medicine. Presented at the Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Nashville, TN, 2000.

Steve Herman, Ph.D.
Steve Herman, Ph.D. is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Herman divides his time among several clinical and research activities. Since 1984 he has served as Director of the Smokers' Consultation Service, an innovative program providing bedside nicotine dependence counseling to hospital inpatients and outpatients with smoking-related diseases. He also directs psychological services and coordinates clinical trials and behavioral research for the Male Sexual Health Clinic in the Division of Urology. For the past several years Dr. Herman been a co-investigator with Dr. James Blumenthal on several NIH-funded clinical studies: two studies investigating the effects of exercise training on older adults with depression (SMILE); and a multi-center CBT trial with post-MI patients suffering from depression and/or social isolation (Project ENRICHD).

Dr. Herman also maintains an active clinical practice, providing individual and couples therapy to patients with a variety of medical and psychological problems, and he serves as supervisor and consultant to junior faculty, post doctoral fellows, interns, and residents in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

 

Jennifer Norten, Ph.D.
Jennifer Norten is a Clinical Associate of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in 1996. She completed her internship in general medical psychology at Duke. Her areas of clinical interest include psychosocial adjustment in cardiac and pulmonary patients, women's mental health issues, infertility, couple's therapy, and treatment of sexual dysfunction. Dr. Norten provides direct service and supervision for the heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplant programs at DUMC. She is also a therapist for the INSPIRE study, a NIH-sponsored trial of telephone-based stress management for patients awaiting lung transplant. Additionally, she provides clinical services for patients from the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic.

Anastasia Georgiades, Ph.D.
Anastasia Georgiades is a Research Associate of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at DUMC. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1997. Dr. Georgiades is currently study coordinator of the SMART HEART study, a single site clinical trial of exercise and stress management in the treatment of ischemic heart disease, funded by the NIH. Her main research interests involve studying stress-induced physiological responses in relation to the development of cardiovascular disease. She is also interested in exploring the role of psychosocial and environmental risk factors such as social support and job strain in the development of cardiovascular disease, and to examine the impact of behavioral interventions such as diet, exercise and stress management in the treatment of hypertension and coronary artery disease.

Representative Publications
Georgiades A, Sherwood A, Gullette EC, Babyak MA, Hinderliter A, Waugh R, Tweedy D, Craighead L, Bloomer R, Blumenthal JA. Effects of exercise and weight loss on mental stress-induced cardiovascular responses in individuals with high blood pressure. Hypertension. 2000;36(2):171-6.

Blumenthal JA, Sherwood A, Gullette EC, Babyak M, Waugh R, Georgiades A, Craighead LW, Tweedy D, Feinglos M, Appelbaum M, Hayano J, Hinderliter A. Exercise and weight loss reduce blood pressure in men and women with mild hypertension: effects on cardiovascular, metabolic, and hemodynamic functioning. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160(13):1947-58.

Blumenthal JA, Sherwood A, Babyak M, Thurston R, Tweedy D, Georgiades A, Gullette EC, Khatri P, Steffan P, Waugh R, Light K, Hinderliter A. Mental stress and coronary disease. The Smart-Heart Study. N C Med J. 1999;60(2):95-9.

Georgiades A, Lemne C, de Faire U, Lindvall K, Fredrikson M: Stress-induced blood pressure measurements predict left ventricular mass over three years among borderline hypertensive men. Eur J Clin Invest. 1997;27:733-9.

Georgiades A, Lemne C, de Faire U, Lindvall K, Fredrikson M. Stress-induced laboratory blood pressure in relation to ambulatory blood pressure and left ventricular mass among borderline hypertensive and normotensive individuals. Hypertension. 1996;28:641-6.

Lemne C, Lindvall K, Georgiades A, Fredrikson M, de Faire U. Structural cardiac changes in relation to 24-h ambulatory blood pressure levels in borderline hypertension. J Intern Med. 1995;238:49-57.

Elizabeth C.D. Gullette, Ph.D.
Elizabeth C.D. Gullette, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow in Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Duke University, in 2000, after completing her clinical internship in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Gullette currently serves as the Study Coordinator of INSPIRE, an NIH-funded study of a telephone-based stress management and coping skills training program for people awaiting a lung transplant. She also provides clinical services for the Lung Transplant Program. In addition, Dr. Gullette has been actively involved in research on the relationship between stress and disease, with a focus on cardiopulmonary disease. This includes the role of psychosocial factors, such as depression and anxiety, in the development and progression of disease, as well as psychosocial and behavioral treatments for medical patients.

Representative Publications
Georgiades, A., Sherwood, A., Gullette, E. C. D., Babyak, M. A., Hinderliter, A., Waugh, R., Tweedy, D., Craighead, L., Bloomer, R., & Blumenthal, J.A. (2000). Effects of exercise and weight loss on mental stress-induced cardiovascular responses in individuals with high blood pressure. Hypertension, 36, 171-176.

Blumenthal, J. A., Sherwood, A., Gullette, E. C. D., Babyak, M., Hinderliter, A., Waugh, R., Georgiades, A., Craighead, L. W., Tweedy, D., Feinglos, M., Appelbaum, M., & Hayano, J. (2000). Exercise and weight loss reduce blood pressure in men and women with mild hypertension: effects on cardiovascular, metabolic, and hemodynamic functioning. Archives of Internal Medicine,160, 1947-1958.

Carels, R. A., Sherwood, A., Babyak, M., Gullette, E. C. D., Coleman, E., Waugh, R., Jiang, W., & Blumenthal, J. A. (1999). Emotional responsivity and transient myocardial ischemia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 605-610.

Dominick, K. L., Gullette, E. C. D., Babyak, M. A., Mallow, K. L., Sherwood, A., Waugh, R., Chilukuri, M., Keefe, F. J., & Blumenthal, J. A. (1999). Predicting peak oxygen uptake among older patients with chronic illness. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, 19, 81-89.

Blumenthal, J. A., Sherwood, A., Babyak, M., Thurston, R., Tweedy, D., Georgiades, A., Gullette, E. C. D., Khatri, P., Steffan, P., Waugh, R., Light, K., & Hinderliter, A. (1999). Mental stress and coronary disease: the Smart-Heart Study. North Carolina Medical Journal, 60, 96-99.

Gullette, E. C. D., Blumenthal, J. A., Babyak, M., Jiang, W., Waugh, R. A., Frid, D. J., O’Connor, C. M., Morris, J. J., & Krantz, D. S. (1997). Effects of mental stress on myocardial ischemia during daily life. Journal of the American Medical Association, 277, 1521-1526.

Gullette, E. C. D., & Blumenthal, J. A. (1996). Exercise therapy for the prevention and treatment of depression. Journal of Practical Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, 5, 263-271.

Blumenthal, J., Thyrum, E. T., Gullette, E., Sherwood, A., & Waugh, R. (1995). Do exercise and weight loss reduce blood pressure in patients with mild hypertension? North Carolina Medical Journal, 56, 92-95.

Lana Watkins, Ph.D.
Dr. Watkins is an Assistant Research Professor of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of North Carolina and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of California at San Diego, the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts, and Duke University’s Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Her research focuses on the interrelationship between behavior (diet, exercise, and stress), autonomic cardiovascular control and cardiac risk, with an emphasis on the impact of affective disorders on behavior, autonomic control and cardiac mortality. She is involved with the Smart Heart study and Project ENRICHD.

Representative Publications
Watkins Lana L., Richard S. Surwit, Paul Grossman, and Andrew Sherwood. Is there a glycemic threshold for impaired autonomic control? Diabetes Care, 23:826-830, 2000.

Watkins Lana L. and James A. Blumenthal. Worried to Death? [letter] Circulation, 100:1251-1252, 1999.

Watkins Lana L., Paul Grossman, Ranga Krishnan and James A. Blumenthal. Anxiety reduces vagal cardiac control in older adults with major depression. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61:334-340, 1999.

Watkins Lana L. and Paul Grossman. Association of depressive symptoms with reduced baroreflex cardiac control in coronary artery disease. American Heart Journal, 137:453-457, 1999.

Watkins Lana L., Paul Grossman, Ranga Krishnan and Andrew Sherwood. Anxiety and vagal control of heart rate. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60:498-502, 1998.

Watkins Lana L., Paul Grossman and Andrew Sherwood. Noninvasive assessment of baroreflex control in borderline hypertension. Hypertension 28:238-243, 1996.

Alisha B. Hart, Ph.D.
Alisha B. Hart, Ph.D. is a Clinical Associate of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed her internship training at the University of Washington Medical Center. Her primary research interests include the prevention and treatment of depression. She currently is the coordinator for the SMILE study, an investigation of exercise as a treatment for depression in adults aged 50 and older. She also provides clinical services to the DUMC heart transplantation program.

Kristy Johnson, MPH
Kristy Johnson is the Project Coordinator for the DISCOVER study of patients with congestive heart failure. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion with a concentration in medical ethics from Duke University, in 1992, and her Master of Public Health Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in 1999.

 

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