Firdaus Dhabhar is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His transdisciplinary research program is supported by membership in the Immunology Institute, Neuroscience Institute, and Cancer Institute at the Stanford School of Medicine. He graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College with a double major in Biology and Political Science, and received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from The Rockefeller University under the mentorship of Professors Bruce McEwen (stress neuroendocrinology) and Ralph Steinman (immunology). Dr. Dhabhar’s laboratory has elucidated mechanisms by which short-term stressors enhance immunity, while long-term stressors suppress/dysregulate immune function. He has proposed that the fight-or-flight stress response is nature’s fundamental but underappreciated survival mechanism which could be harnessed clinically to promote health and healing. Dr. Dhabhar believes that activities/interventions (e.g. compassion training, meditation, exercise, art) that reduce “bad” stress are likely to increase the efficacy of protective “good” stress. Through rewarding collaborations with colleagues at Stanford (Spiegel, Bouley, Gross, O’Hara, Kesler, Hallmayer), UCSF (Epel, Blackburn, Wolkowitz), Yale (Ickovics, Jokl, Rosenberger), and UC Davis (Saron), his laboratory investigates bidirectional interactions between the brain and immune system in the context of stress, depression, skin immunity, surgery, and cancer. Dr. Dhabhar has served on committees at the National Academies of Science, and in elected and appointed positions for the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society. Among Dr. Dhabhar’s honors are the Council of Graduate Schools Distinguished Dissertation Award (for outstanding dissertation selected internationally); the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society Young Investigator Award (for outstanding contributions in basic and clinical research); and the Richter Award (for excellence in the field of Psychoneuroendocrinology).
CCARE Staff