Firdaus Dhabhar

Administrative Appointments

• Director of Research, Stanford Center on Stress & Health (2006 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Young Investigator Award, PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (2000)
• Distinguished Dissertation Award - Life Sciences, Council of Graduate Schools (1997)

Professional Education

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Cancer Biology
• Immunology
• Neurosciences
• Psychiatry and Behavioral Science

Community & International Work

• Institute of Medicine Committee: Interactions Among Social, Behavioral and Genetic Factors In Health 
• Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Committee: Humane Transport of Laboratory Animals 
• Scientific Council Member, Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society 
• Institute of Medicine Committee: Health Effects of Exposures Experienced During The Gulf War (I). 

Research Interests

Although stress has a bad reputation, a physiological stress is response is nature's fundamental survival system. We are interested in identifying biological mechanisms that mediate and differentiate the recently appreciated immunoenhancing effects of short-term stress from the long-known immunosuppressive effects of chronic stress. We examine stress effects on leukocyte trafficking, innate/adaptive immunity, and cytokine gene/protein expression using models of skin immunity, surgery, and cancer.

By elucidating the mechanisms under investigation we hope to develop behavioral and/or pharmacologic interventions designed to harness a patient’s psycho-physiology to selectively enhance (during vaccination, surgery, infection, or cancer) or suppress (during inflammatory and autoimmune disease) an immune response depending on the clinical needs of the patient.

Clinical Trials

• Sleep, Circadian Hormonal Dysregulation, and Breast Cancer Survival Recruiting

Publications

• Enhancing versus suppressive effects of stress on immune function: implications for immunoprotection and immunopathology. Dhabhar FS, Neuroimmunomodulation. 2009; 16 (5): 300-17
• Short-term stress enhances cellular immunity and increases early resistance to squamous cell carcinoma. Dhabhar FS, Saul AN, Daugherty C, Holmes TH, Bouley DM, Oberyszyn TM. Brain Behav Immun. 2009
• Low serum IL-10 concentrations and loss of regulatory association between IL-6 and IL-10 in adults with major depression. Dhabhar FS, Burke HM, Epel ES, Mellon SH, Rosser R, Reus VI, Wolkowitz OM. J Psychiatr Res. 2009; 43 (11): 962-9
• The influence of bio-behavioural factors on tumour biology: pathways and mechanisms. Antoni MH, Lutgendorf SK, Cole SW, Dhabhar FS, Sephton SE, McDonald PG, Stefanek M, Sood AK. Nat Rev Cancer. 2006; 6 (3): 240-8
• Short-term stress experienced at time of immunization induces a long-lasting increase in immunologic memory. Dhabhar FS, Viswanathan K. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2005; 289 (3): R738-44