Featured Research Faculty: Laurie Theeke

What research are you working on now?

I am currently using national Health and Retirement Study (HRS)  data to understand how loneliness impacts heart disease in populations of disparity including people in Appalachia, Black women with heart disease, older adults living in long-term care, older men living with HIV, and older adults living in long-term care. In addition, I continue to partner with a team at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to expand understanding of the impact of loneliness on the physiology of wound healthing. The MUSC team is currently refining a CBT-based intervention that we hope to evaluate in a clinical trial in the population of people with chronic wounds. I am examining the links between loneliness and brain structure and function in the scientific literature, synthesizing findings for upcoming research presentations. An additional area of research is using data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to examine proteomic biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease with a team of researchers from varied universities. Finally, I am studying loneliness in opioid addiction and substance use with a team of researchers from West Virginia University and I serve as a co-investigator on a project that focuses on pain in Korean Americans.

Why is this work important?

What are the potential policy implications of your work?