WORKING ON TOMORROW’S BREAKTHROUGHS TODAY qualitative methods, and the role alternative interventions— like yoga, mindfulness, and tai chi—can have on the prevention and/or management of various diseases. “Our research scientists and their teams focus on the role human behavior plays in health and disease, and they work to discover new and improved approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment,” explains Laura Stroud, PhD, director and senior research scientist at the center. “Together, we seek to integrate the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences through clinical, community, and laboratory-based research.” Although new to her current role—she was named director in November 2020—Dr. Stroud is not new to the center. After completing her undergraduate work in human Laura Stroud, PhD
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health psychology at Yale, Dr. Stroud’s postdoctoral studies brought her to Brown University and soon after the center,
or a hospital, one of the many great benefits of being
in 1998. “I didn’t have a plan to stay in Providence when I
part of a world-class academic health system—which
arrived,” she admits, reflecting back, “but I fell in love with
The Miriam is, through its Lifespan affiliation and
the city and the research community here.”
partnership with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University—is that you get to both participate in and lead cutting-edge medical research and clinical studies today
Moving forward, Dr. Stroud says her plan is to capitalize on the center’s core strengths to build new collaborations
that result in the health care breakthroughs of tomorrow.
and research areas, recruit new faculty, and to expand the
Such is the case at The Center for Behavioral and Preventive
being helped along by the power of philanthropy.
Medicine at The Miriam. Over the course of its 30-year history, the center has conducted research in fields as diverse as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease to
center’s overall capabilities. Goals, she points out, that are
“The Miriam’s donor family has been very supportive of our center’s work and we are deeply appreciative of their
smoking cessation, exercise, and neuroscience.
generosity,” she says. “They understand that when you
Today, its focus includes, but is not limited to, the effects
of medicine.”
of psychological stress and trauma on disease; the patient experience of COVID-19 “long haulers”; women’s health and pregnancy; smoking cessation and e-cigarette use;
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biology at Stanford and her graduate studies in clinical
support research, you are helping to shape the future
