http://ryanlinnbrown.com/starlab

Stress, Aging, and Relationships Lab, Chicago, IL (2026)

03/11/2026

At this year’s Close Relationships Preconference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (), Paul Eastwick and Ryan L. Brown (pictured) led a roundtable discussion on science communication.

Check out their podcasts focused on relationship and stress science below:

- Love Factually (), hosted by & : https://www.lovefactuallypod.com/

- The Stress Puzzle, hosted by Ryan Linn Brown for the Stress Measurement Network: https://www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast

Thanks to the Close Relationships Preconference organizers (Junior members: Kori Krueger, Tatum Jolink, and Yoobin Park; Senior members: Brian Ogolsky, Rosie Shrout, Judith Gere, Laura Machia, Lisa Neff, and Levi Baker; Graduate Student member: Rachel Blickman) for bringing this opportunity to connect over more effectively sharing our science to SPSP.

03/03/2026

🧩 Tune in to the latest episode of the Stress Puzzle podcast to hear from Dr. Ajua Duker and Dr. Dorainne Green about their research on managing emotions in the face of discrimination.

We talked about why some of the emotion regulation field’s assumptions around what is “helpful” emotion regulation won’t always fit in the context of discrimination. Our conversation draws from an important paper they co-led (published in Emotion) to discuss discrimination as a unique stressor that threatens one’s identity and humanity, and how this context may change what kind of emotion regulation is most helpful for an individual. For example, we talk about how common reappraisal instructions like being told to “look on the bright side” can be dehumanizing, and how redemption narratives (or focusing on lessons learned) may better support people through experiences of discrimination.

Dr. Duker and Dr. Green discuss how their paper came together, and the importance of finding good mentors (like their shared PhD advisor, Dr. Jennifer Richeson!). We also talk about the implications of this research for educational contexts, resilience research, and how we think about connections between emotion regulation, health, and collective action.

Listen now here or at the link in bio: https://www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast/episode/1b8db002/managing-emotions-in-the-face-of-discrimination-rethinking-reappraisal-with-dr-ajua-duker-and-dr-dorainne-green

For every episode, we make transcripts available to support broader accessibility and ease of use in classroom environments. You can access transcripts for all episodes here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qk72-VjZRGTQ3BO27K13TCerV7R5HtjT

We also include references to papers and resources discussed in the show notes for every episode - highlighted below is the main papers we focused on in this episode:

🗣️ Managing emotions in the face of discrimination: The differential effects of self-immersion, self-distanced reappraisal, and positive reappraisal:https://psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2021-88650-001.pdf

02/20/2026

✨ Meet Carlos Silvera - a STAR Lab PhD student! ✨

Carlos is an integral part of the STAR Lab team who is helping to launch our lab’s initial pilot studies (AND today is his birthday!!!) 🥳.

His research interests center on how Hispanic cultural constructs (e.g., Machismo, Marianismo, Familismo, and Fatalismo) influence stress responses, health-decision making, and health outcomes in Hispanic communities. We deeply appreciate Carlos and his clear motivation to improve both the quality of healthcare and quality of life for underserved populations. As a first year PhD student, Carlos is already actively involved in scientific societies including the Society of Behavioral Medicine (), Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (), and the International Association for Relationship Research ().

Before joining the lab, Carlos completed a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University with majors in Psychology, Romance Languages, and Spanish. In his work after college at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (), Carlos managed multiple NIH-funded studies focusing on psychosocial interventions for cancer survivors. Huge thanks to Dr. Sara Fleszar-Pavlovic for recommending Carlos — we are so grateful to have him here in the College of Health and Human Sciences (.chhs).

Happy birthday, Carlos, and thank you for all that you do to make our lab better!

02/13/2026

🧩 Tune in to the latest episode of the Stress Puzzle podcast for a conversation on the science of grief and loss between Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor () and host Dr. Ryan L. Brown.

Death, dying, and grief are topics we often avoid but are central to our experience of being human. Although grief isn’t a light topic, Dr. O’Connor walks us through this research in a way that is absolutely captivating as she takes us through the neurobiology behind how our brains grapple with the death of a loved one.

In this episode, we talked about what her research can tell us about the process of learning to live with loss. We discussed the role of community, rituals, and tradition in grief across different cultures and religions. We also talked about the history and rationale behind prolonged grief disorder as a diagnosis, and how the death of a loved one is especially distinct from other kinds of stressors. Lastly, we touched on emerging ethical concerns around grief, loss, and AI chatbots. Tune in and share widely!

Listen now here or at the link in bio: https://www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast/episode/2e2ddfa2/living-with-loss-how-culture-and-neuroscience-help-us-understand-grief-with-dr-mary-frances-oconnor

For every episode, we make transcripts available to support broader accessibility and ease of use in classroom environments. You can access transcripts for all episodes here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qk72-VjZRGTQ3BO27K13TCerV7R5HtjT

We include references to papers and resources discussed in the show notes for every episode - highlighted below is one of the papers we focused on in this episode:

🧠 Grieving as a form of learning: Insights from neuroscience applied to grief and loss:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8858332/pdf/nihms-1734749.pdf

Dr. O’Connor also leads the Neurobiology of Grief International Network (NOGIN), which brings grief and loss researchers together to foster collaboration and translate research into clinical impact. You can learn more about NOGIN here: https://www.neurobiologyofgrief.org

01/28/2026

For researchers to move forward with a stigma-conscious framework on resilience, Dr. Danielle King () emphasizes that we must be thoughtful and conscious of stigma at every stage of the research process. She also provides specific advice for how scholars should approach anti-Black racism research in a paper linked below and in our show notes.

Listen to the full episode wherever you listen to podcasts or at the link in bio.

Read the recommendations from Dr. King’s paper, “Research on Anti-Black Racism in Organizations: Insights, Ideas, and Considerations” here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359277095_Research_on_Anti-Black_Racism_in_Organizations_Insights_Ideas_and_Considerations

Read more about Dr. King’s paper, “A Stigma-Conscious Framework for Resilience and Posttraumatic Change” here or access from our show notes:https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-41860-014.pdf

01/28/2026

What a year for the Stress Puzzle!

We released 10 new episodes (see slides for all episodes!), reached folks from 52 different countries, and these episodes were downloaded over 3500 times in 2025.

Huge thanks to our 2025 guests who brought their expertise and perspectives from so many different areas of stress science: Drs. Megan Gunnar, Ronald Dahl, Cheryl Woods Giscombé, David Almeida, Andrew Steptoe, Wendy Berry Mendes, Jay Van Bavel, Michael Kraus, and Danielle King Jordan.

And the most sincere thank you to anyone who spent any of their busy time listening in 2025! We look forward to growing the podcast even more in 2026 so keep listening, sharing, and leaving reviews to help us bring high-quality stress science to more people. 🧩

A little bit more background for folks who are new!:
The Stress Puzzle podcast is a initiative hosted by Dr. Ryan L. Brown for the UCSF Stress Measurement Network, an NIH/NIA funded network which aims to better understand the relationship between stress and health by improving the measurement of stress in research studies. With the Stress Puzzle, we want to engage both researchers and the broader community in the cutting-edge field of stress science by promoting high-quality research through monthly conversations that embrace the nuances of the work. We hope to support anyone interested in this research, whether personally or professionally, by passing on current knowledge and the historical context of stress research.

A couple of other notes on what to expect:
- No ads EVER!
- Transcripts available for every episode
- Research linked in the show description

01/28/2026

What is resilience?

Many definitions of resilience consider resilience to be a trait (i.e., a more long-term characteristic like personality). Dr. Danielle King’s () recent paper in American Psychologist theorizes that resilience is more of a dynamic state (i.e., shorter-term, affected by one’s environment) and argues that we must extend that idea to fully interrogate how stigma influences resilience across structural, interpersonal, and individual levels.

In this clip, Dr. King talks about her perspective on resilience and concerns around the hidden physiological costs of continuously overcoming for individuals and their broader networks.

Listen to the full episode wherever you listen to podcasts or at the link in our bio. You can find Dr. King’s paper, “A Stigma-Conscious Framework for Resilience and Posttraumatic Change” linked in the show notes.

11/29/2025

🧩 Available now! The latest episode of the Stress Puzzle podcast with Dr. Danielle King () and host Ryan L. Brown focused on the challenges of conceptualizing and measuring resilience.

Drawing from Dr. King’s recent paper in American Psychologist () titled, “A Stigma-Conscious Framework for Resilience and Posttraumatic Change,” this episode emphasizes how stigma, chronic stress, and systemic factors shape one’s opportunity to be resilient. The conversation especially focused on the context of employee resilience, but implications for how we think about resilience extends to research far beyond the workplace. Throughout this conversation, Dr. King also explained the limitations of trait-based definitions of resilience, emphasizing the importance of dynamic and context-sensitive measurement. Tune in and share widely!

Listen now at link in bio or wherever you listen to podcasts: https://www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast/episode/20ee7c75/beyond-bouncing-back-identity-stigma-and-workplace-resilience-with-dr-danielle-king

For every episode, we make transcripts available to support broader accessibility and ease of use in classroom environments. You can access transcripts for all episodes here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qk72-VjZRGTQ3BO27K13TCerV7R5HtjT

We also include references to papers and resources discussed in the show notes - below are some of the most important highlights from this episode:

1. A Stigma-Conscious Framework for Resilience and Posttraumatic Change:https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-41860-014.pdf

2. When Thriving Requires Effortful Surviving: Delineating manifestations and resource expenditure outcomes of microaggressions for Black employees: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-56902-001

3. What Leaders Get Wrong About Resilience in the : https://hbr.org/2022/06/what-leaders-get-wrong-about-resilience

11/16/2025

We had a great day of cross-institution and cross-disciplinary connection at the Institute for One Health Innovation’s Annual Meeting!

Thanks to Dr. Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa and the entire IOHI team for this effort to connect researchers at institutions across the Texas Tech University System to facilitate high-impact transdisciplinary research that can benefit the health of humans, animals, and our broader ecosystems. We’re excited to represent the College of Health and Human Sciences (.chhs) as we explore collaboration opportunities through these One Health initiatives.

10/31/2025

Happy Halloween and congratulations to Kristen Stopfer for her award-winning pumpkin! 🎃

10/29/2025

🧩 Available now! A new episode of the Stress Puzzle with Dr. Michael Kraus focused on the widening gap between the richest and the poorest in our society (aka rising economic inequality) and the far-reaching implications of this global issue.

Through this conversation, listeners will learn about how class segregation creates distinct cultural patterns and norms, the psychological mechanisms that perpetuate inequality, and the profound ways economic inequality affects our social interactions and well-being on a daily basis.

Listen now: tinyurl.com/econinequality
(or via link in bio)

In every episode, we include references to papers and resources discussed in the show notes - below are some of these papers and we also wanted to highlight several important influences on research in this area:

1. Signs of Social Class: The Experience of Economic Inequality in Everyday Life: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5453398/

2. Americans overestimate social class mobility: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000062

3. Research from Dr. Hazel Markus:
- In This Together: Doing and Undoing Inequality and Social Class Divides: https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/josi.12212

- Social class shapes the form and function of relationships and selves: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X17302245

4. The work and legacy of Dr. Jim Sidanius who advanced social dominance theory to highlight the multiple levels of influence that “conspire to create and sustain systems of group-based dominance and inequality”: https://spsp.org/membership/awards/heritage-wall/jim-sidanius
- Thank you to for this page honoring his life and research.

5. The work and legacy of Dr. Nancy Adler who served as director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health for 15 years: https://psychiatry.ucsf.edu/news/nancy-adler
- Thank you to for this tribute to Dr. Adler’s work and enduring impact through those she mentored.

Stress, Aging, and Relationships Lab

03/11/2026

03/03/2026

02/20/2026

02/13/2026

01/28/2026

01/28/2026

01/28/2026

11/29/2025

11/16/2025

10/31/2025

10/29/2025

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