Developmental Psychosomatics Lab


PI: Alla Landa, PhD

The Developmental Psychosomatics Lab conducts research on the effects of lifelong development and interpersonal well-being on health. Our translational research bridges clinical psychology, social affective neuroscience, and psychoneuroimmunology. We focus on the interface of emotion regulation, interpersonal functioning and physical health over the course of a person's life from early childhood through adulthood. Our goal is to uncover the role of the central nervous system in bodily distress and develop new effective treatments. The lab implements multi-level research methodology including: psychologic (e.g. clinical interviews, experimental paradigms), psychophysiologic, and sensory assessments; brain imaging (fMRI, MRS), immune biomarkers, etc.

This research informs another focal area - development and implementation of the state-of-the-art multidisciplinary psychosomatic clinical care for chronic pain, somatic symptoms, conversion disorders and other related conditions. Since 2015, in order to further translational multidisciplinary work in this area and to inform clinicians and researchers of the latest advances in the field, the lab has been organizing the annual Columbia Psychosomatic Conferences, held on CUMC campus, which have attracted international multidisciplinary researchers and clinicians from around the world.