People who experience traumatic or enduring psychological stress are more likely to develop psychiatric disorders as well as cardiovascular, autoimmune, and neurodegenerative disorders. My research is focused on revealing how psychological stress drives the development of mental and physical disorders. Specifically, I aim to identify the psychological and biological factors that account for the adverse effects of psychological stress, and ultimately to drive the development of targeted interventions to reduce such negative effects of stress. To this end, I am currently focused on uncovering stress-related changes in immune system functioning and on examining how such changes impact brain function and structure.

Dr. Wallace is the Chief of the Anesthesia. He is a cardiac anesthesiologist. His research includes development medications to reduce perioperative cardiac risk, design and development of medical monitors and clinical information software, as well as development and testing of surgical procedures.

Dr. Bensing is a VA Research Microbiologist and UCSF Assistant Professor. Her research has focused on the molecular biology of streptococci, and host-pathogen interactions that can render commensal organisms more virulent.  Her current research projects include the identification of plasma and salivary glycoprotein ligands for streptococcal sialoglycan-binding adhesins, and determining how these interactions impact the ability of streptococci to colonize the oral cavity and establish endocardial infections.  In a related project, Dr. Bensing and her team of collaborators are developing a set of glycan-binding probes that will enable the rapid and inexpensive characterization of O-linked glycans on salivary MUC7, as well as other mucins and mucin-like glycoproteins.

Dr. Yeh is active in developing novel applications for computed tomography (CT), which is the dominant clinical imaging method used for the diagnosis and staging of abdominopelvic disorders. His research focuses on improving delivery of contrast materials used in CT scans and on better quantifying their physiological effects.

Dr. Cohen's research focuses on improving the health of Veterans with PTSD. She runs the Mind Your Heart Study, a longitudinal cohort of Veterans with and without PTSD established in 2008 that continues to follow to examine the longterm effects of PTSD, particularly on cardiovascular disease. She also conducts numerous studies using national VA data.