Grantee: Mark Laudenslager

Mark Laudenslager

Mark Laudenslager, Ph.D.

Psychoneuroimmunology and Endocrinology Researcher
BRP PAST FEATURED GRANTEE
Organization:
  • University of Colorado - Denver
Grantee News:

Dr. Mark Laudenslager, winner of the 2013 Norman Cousins Award from PNIRS

Dr. Laudenslager's laboratory has developed novel approaches to the collection and assessment of markers of stress and stress-hormone activation. Their unique saliva collection devices, which are exclusive to his laboratory, involve minimal hardship for study participants and have been successfully used in collaborative research projects as diverse as mothers in China, NASA astronauts during flight missions, and an NCI-supported study of caregivers of blood or bone marrow transplant recipients.

Presently the overarching goal of his laboratory is to develop efficacious interventions to diminish patient and caregiver distress and disruption of medical health through the use of massage, psychoeducation, relaxation, and paced respiration interventions. He is the Principal Investigator of an NCI-funded randomized controlled trial for caregivers of blood or bone marrow transplant recipients.

Dr. Laudenslager's work began with the study of early mother-infant relationships and immune competence of the offspring. His early contributions to the relationship between stress and immune regulation are significant toward establishing links between mind and immunity at a time when this was not widely accepted. His research focus began using well-established animal models (learned helplessness and maternal separation) and moved toward translation of these relationships to problems associated with prenatal development and postnatal outcome in human infants and, most recently, to interventions for patients with cancer and their caregivers and family members.


My motivation and the scientific impetus toward development of interventions for caregivers came from my personal experience of caring for my mother as her primary caregiver during the last 5 years of her life.”


Selected Grants

Project Title Grant Number Program Director
Psychoeducation for Bmt Caregivers: Biobehavioral Markers and Outcome 5R01CA126971-04 Paige Green