In UA Lecture, Researcher to Discuss Coping With Health-Related Adversity

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A leading researcher in clinical health psychology will deliver the 2016 Michael Dinoff Memorial Lecture at 6 p.m. Friday, April 22, in 118 Bibb Graves Hall at The University of Alabama.

Dr. Annette L. Stanton, psychology and psychiatry professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, studies factors that promote psychological and physical health in individuals who confront health-related adversity, including cancer, infertility and other medical conditions. The lecture is titled “I Second That Emotion.”

“When adults confront profound and prolonged stressors, what factors enhance or hinder their well-being and health?” Stanton asked. “This talk will address my program of research to promote optimal quality of life and health for adults and their loved ones as they live with major stressors, with a focus on the experience of cancer.”

Aided by UCLA undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students, Stanton attempts to pinpoint risk and protective factors for psychological and physical health during stressful experiences.

“From studies conducted in the community and the lab, we have learned that coping with cancer or other long-term stressors by attempting to avoid associated thoughts and feelings predicts an increase in distress and physical symptoms over time,” Stanton said. “In contrast, cancer survivors fare better when they adopt more active strategies, such as expressing cancer-related feelings, garnering support from close others, engaging in problem-solving and finding benefits in the cancer experience.”

Stanton is also a senior research scientist at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and a member of the Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Dinoff Memorial Lecture is given in memory of Dr. Michael Dinoff, who was a professor and director of the University’s Psychological Clinic from 1963 until his death in 1982. He achieved rapid promotions through the professorial ranks based on a high level of research productivity, outstanding teaching, administrative skills and contributions to the University and to his profession.

The Dinoff Lecture is provided through a memorial fund established by the Dinoff family and friends. For the lecture, which typically occurs in the spring near Dinoff’s birthday, the UA psychology department invites an outstanding psychologist whose work reflects the standards of Dinoff.

The psychology department is a part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state.