By Rena R. Wing, Ph.D.,
This year’s recipient of the Division 38 Excellence in Health Psychology Research by an Early Career Professional Award is Dr. Jeanne McCaffery. Dr. McCaffery is being honored for her research bringing recent advances in both quantitative and molecular genetic into the field of behavioral medicine.
Dr. McCaffery is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Clinical and Health Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2001 and completed her clinical psychology internship in the Behavioral Medicine track at Brown Medical School. After completing this training, she received an appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School and as a Staff Psychologist at The Miriam Hospital, where she has been an active member of the Centers of Behavioral and Preventive Medicine and the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center.
Dr. McCaffery was among the first clinical psychologists to train in both biometric genetics and at the bench in molecular applications and has used these different genetic techniques to address gene by environment interactions within cardiovascular behavioral medicine. Her initial RO1 used a twin-design to examine the impact of social stressors, such as low socioeconomic status, on the heritability of cardiovascular disease and related health behaviors. She showed, for example, that the heritability of hypertension is modified by educational attainment, such that the genetic variance is lowest among those in the lowest level of education, where environmental factors such as stress presumably play a greater role. More recently she has used twin registries and sophisticated modeling techniques to show that the heritability of body mass is greater among sedentary individuals and that physical activity can help override the genetic influence on obesity.
Dr. McCaffery has also examined sources of genetic variation in the adrenergic receptor system that may contribute to heritable individual differences in blood pressure and the cardiovascular responsiveness to stress. Currently, funded by two new RO1 grants, she is examining sources of genetic variation that may explain the variance seen in weight loss outcomes and in the changes in HDL-cholesterol that occur with weight reduction and increases in physical activity.
Dr. McCaffery has received many awards for her research, including the Student research Award from Division 38 of APA and the Bruce M. Selya Research Excellence Award from Lifespan Hospitals. She has been a frequent reviewer for NIH study sections, is on the editorial board of Psychosomatic Medicine, and is Associate Editor of Frontiers in Behavioral and Psychiatric Genetics.
Dr. McCaffery has contributed significantly to our understanding of the interactions between genetic and environmental factors across a wide range of cardiovascular behavioral medicine topics, including smoking, hypertension, obesity, and physical activity. Her work increases the recognition that “Genes load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger”. It is with great pleasure that we present the Division 38 Excellence in Health Psychology Research by an Early Career Professional Award to Dr. McCaffery.