Overview

Few of us will succumb to cholera, smallpox or scarlet fever. Instead, we die from diseases of Westernized lifestyle, which are often diseases worsened by stress. When the stress-response is mobilized by the body because of a typical mammalian stressor (e.g., a sprint from a predator), it is highly adaptive. However, when activated in the classic manner of Westernized humans (i.e., chronic psychosocial stress), it is pathogenic. The presentation will consider this dichotomy, as well as new directions of research needed for understanding the neurobiology of stress and stress management.

Dialogue 13
16 sessions
November 8, 2005
Dar Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
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Speakers

Robert Sapolsky is John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biological Sciences, Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, and is a research associate at the Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya. His work is in four broad areas: a) how stress and stress hormones damage the nervous system and compromise the ability of neurons to survive neurological insults; b) the design of gene therapy strategies to save neurons from such insults; c) the design of gene therapy strategies to protect against animal models of psychiatric disorders; d) long-standing studies of wild baboons in East Africa, examining the relationships among dominance rank, social behavior, personality, and patterns of stress-related disease. Sapolsky is the author of 5 books and of some 350 technical papers.

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