LISA ASPINWALL

Dr. Aspinwall's research program examines ways people seek to anticipate, prevent, understand, and manage important negative outcomes, especially in the domain of health. Most recently, she has examined these processes in the areas of predictive genetic testing for familial cancer and severe obesity.  With the advent of predictive genetic testing, the technology exists to provide people with personalized information about their own future health problems, but little is known about how people think about and use such information to reduce future health risks. Central to this effort is an understanding of how people think about genetic risks, whether these risks interact with personal behavior or environmental exposure in ways that amplify or reduce health risks, and critically, whether these risks may be modified. Dr. Aspinwall uses a variety of research methods (experimental studies of health cognitions, prospective longitudinal studies of patients and families managing disease risk, structured interview studies) to examine these questions.