Customer Spotlight: Bruce McEwen, Ph.D.

Stress is something we’d all like to have a little less of. Though it is a natural, genetic response that allows us to adapt to various situations, stress can certainly impede upon daily life. If allowed to reach chronic levels, stress can “cause damage and accelerate disease,” one of the main points of Dr. Bruce McEwen’s 2002 book The End of Stress As We Know It, which was recently featured on Scientist-At-Work.

A professor of Neuroendocrinology and the head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University in New York, Dr. McEwen is one of the foremost experts on the way the brain changes in response to stress. The research conducted at his lab has led to a better understanding of how the brain changes structurally and functionally, and has helped scientists further develop their own research on topics such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease.

While president of the Society for Neuroscience, Dr. McEwen played an important role in establishing Brain Awareness Week, and is a major supporter of science education. This year’s recipient of the Society for Biological Psychiatry’s Gold Medal award, he has published over 700 papers, and continues to make pioneering advancements in his field.

“The brain is certainly one of the most wonderful, mysterious, still-largely-unexplored, and challenging organs of the body and certainly the most important one for understanding a whole host of issues ranging from memory to violence to depression to the basis for psychosomatic diseases,” Dr. McEwen said in an interview with Dr. E. Simon Hanson, available on brainconnection.com.

To learn more about Dr. McEwen’s work, read the transcript of an ABC Radio International interview from Norman Swan’s weekly show “The Health Report,” then watch Dr. McEwen discuss social connectedness, physical activity, and other methods for combating stress on PBS.

{Customer Spotlight is an MBF Mindset series that focuses on scientists around the world who use MBF Bioscience systems and software to conduct their research.}

Image of Dr. McEwen courtesy of decadeofbehavior.org