Professor Takes Part in Historic $26 Million National Study of Health

Professor Takes Part in Historic
$26 Million National Study of Health

Biomedical research yields rich data, but tends to focus on small sample groups that are not representative of the national population. Social scientists, on the other hand, perform large-scale surveys, yet lack the detailed results afforded by biomedical research.

Thanks to a $26 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, Fordham Psychology Professor Daniel Mroczek, Ph.D., is taking part in a historic study titled “Integrative Pathways to Health and Illness.” For the first time, social, behavioral and biomedical researchers will embark on a large-scale collaborative investigation to discover why some people become stricken with physical illnesses, such as heart attacks and cancer. Mroczek hopes that the research will produce psychosocial intervention strategies, such as meditation and social contact that can supplement existing preventive techniques such as medication, exercise and surgery. In addition, the study will enhance scientific understanding of the connections between psychosocial factors and physical health.

“This is the first nationally representative study in the United States to extensively measure both psychological and social indicators as well as important biological and medical markers of disease and health,” said Mroczek, an associate professor who will be directing the portion of the study on personality, well being and physical health. “We will be looking at the ways psychosocial aspects determine whether people stay healthy or become ill over a period of time.”

Mroczek joins a group of scientists from 16 prestigious national institutions including Harvard University, Columbia University and Cornell University. Among other unprecedented initiatives, the project will allow for MRIs to be conducted on a national sample of approximately 500 individuals. Data from such extensive biomedical sample pools will be supplemented by psychosocial research that examines how stress, personality traits, spirituality and other factors influence physical health. Mroczek is excited by the opportunity not only to conduct groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research, but also to be able do so on such a large scale.

“This research fits into the work that I have been doing on developmental changes in personality and psychological well being, but it will also allow me the chance to apply my research within the medical arena,” he said.

The six-year project has grown out of the National Institutes of Health's initiative titled “Cells and Surveys,” which is committed to conducting more comprehensive and representative medical research on a national level.

The University of Wisconsin is leading the project. Its principal investigator, Psychology Professor Carol Ryff, Ph.D., was a Fordham professor from 1978 until 1985. Mroczek first became involved with the lead researchers on the project 10 years ago, when he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan.

—Ryan Thompson