Invited Lecture: Firdaus Dhabhar, Ph.D.

Firdaus Dhabhar is a neuro-immunologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His laboratory investigates the effects of stress on health. He was the first to show how short-term stress enhances the body’s immune defenses to increase protection during a fight-or-flight response. He has proposed that fight-or-flight stress is generally “good” stress and represents one of Mother Nature’s fundamental but under-appreciated survival systems. His research aims to harness “good” stress to boost immunity during surgery, vaccination, and cancer. In contrast, his laboratory also investigates how long-term stress, or “bad” stress, and disorders like depression, have harmful effects on brain and body.