Lisa Christian is a Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health and the Director of the Stress, Health, and Aging Lab at the Ohio State University Institute of Brain, Behavior and Immunology. See the Stress, Health, and Aging Lab website for an overview of her research program and copies of her publications. Her studies focus on immune and neuroendocrine pathways linking maternal factors, particularly sleep, stress, race, and obesity, with adverse outcomes including preterm birth, poor responses to vaccines, risk for perinatal depression, propensity toward obesity, and effects on fetal/infant development. Her research has been funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Nursing Research, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, and uBiome, among others. Across studies, Dr. Christian’s lab has recruited >800 women, 46% African American, 68% socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 82% in longitudinal protocols. In 2016, Dr. Christian was awarded the Robert Ader New Investigator Award from the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society (PNIRS) as well as the Neal Miller Young Investigator Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. 

Professional Website

Selected Publications

Christian, L.M., Morgan, E., Andridge, R.R., Peng., J., Marlar, J., Manning, W.D., Cole, S.W., McDade, T.W & Kamp Dush, C.M. (2026) The National Couples’ Health and Time Stress Biology Study (NCHAT-BIO): Wave 1 Methodology Report and Wave 3 Preview. PsyArXiv. Preprint. 

Christian, L.M., Andridge, R. R., Peng, J., Kasibhatla, N., Mcdade, T., Blevins, T., Cole, S.W., Manning, W.D., & Kamp Dush, C. M. (2026). Sexual Minority Adults Exhibit Greater Inflammation than Heterosexual Adults in the Context of Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety: Pathways to Health Disparities. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 133, 106202. DOI.

King, A.P., Langenecker, S.A., Gorka, S., Turner, J., Want, L., Wastler, H. Gonzalex, M.R., Christian, L.M, [52 others], Maynard-Wentzel, G., Kragulijac, N., & Phan, K.L. (2025). The State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) Study Protocol: A Comprehensive, Multimodal, Family-based, Longitudinal Observational Investigation of Risk and Resilience in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders. BMJ Open, 0:e099525. DOI. 

Christian, L.M., Wilson, S., Madison, A.A., Kamp Dush, C.M., McDade, T.W., Peng, J., Andridge, R., Morgan, E., Manning, W., Cole, S.W., (2025). Sexual Minority Stress and Epigenetic Aging. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 126, 24-29. DOI.

Christian, L.M., Brown, R.L., Carroll, J.E., Thayer, J.F., Lewis, T.T., Gillespie, S.L., and Fagundes, C.P. (2025). Pathways to maternal health inequities: Structural racism, sleep, and physiological stress. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 123, 502-509. DOI.

Rosko, A.E., Elsaid, M.I., Woyach, J., Islam, N., Lepola, N., Urrutia, J., Christian, L.M., Presley, C., Mims, A., & Burd, C. (2024). Determining the relationship of p16INK4a and additional molecular markers of aging with clinical frailty in hematologic malignancy. Journal of Cancer Survivorship. DOI.

Christian, L.M., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., Cole, S.W., Burd, C.E., Madison, A.A., Wilson, S.J., & Rosko, A.E., (2024). Psychoneuroimmunology in multiple myeloma and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant: Opportunities for research among patients and caregivers. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 119, 507-519. DOI.

Christian, L.M., Wilson, S.J., Madison, A.A., Prakash, R.S., Burd, C.E., Rosko, A.E., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., (2023). Understanding the Health Effects of Caregiving Stress: New Directions in Molecular Aging. Ageing Research Reviews, 102096. DOI.

Fagundes, C.P., Wu-Chung, E.L., Christian, L.M. (2022). Social determinants of health: What we still need to know. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 140:105713. DOI.

Christian, L.M., Cole, S.W., McDade, T., Pachankis, J.E., Morgan, E., Strahm, A.M., & Kamp Dush, C. (2021). A Biopsychosocial Framework for Understanding Sexual and Gender Minority Health: A Call for Action. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 129, 107-116. DOI.