MARGARET E. KEMENY is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Health Psychology Program at the University of California San Francisco. After spending her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley, she received her Ph.D. in health psychology from UCSF and completed a four-year post-doctoral fellowship in immunology at UCLA. Dr. Kemeny’s research has focused on identifying the links between psychological factors, the immune system and health and illness. She has made important contributions to our understanding of the ways in which the mind -one’s thoughts and feelings – shapes biological responses to stress and trauma.
Over the past 20 years, she has examined the effects of psychological factors on physiology and disease, particularly HIV infection and inflammation. Her research centers on the impact of cognition and emotion on physiology and health, as well as the effects of psycho logical interventions on cognitive, emotional and physiological responses. She is particularly interested in the impact of social factors on one’s sense of self, self-conscious emotions and physiology.
