NCCIH Research Blog

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) invites you to two upcoming virtual lectures on the science of emotional well-being (EWB). Registration is not required, the public is welcome, and you can attend either or both talks. These events are part of NCCIH’s Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series. 

EWB is an NCCIH research priority area. This is discussed further in the NCCIH strategic plan; a press release on National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards for networks to research EWB; and a summary of the first NIH-wide roundtable on EWB. 

The first lecture will be on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. Michelle Y. Martin, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, will present “Well-Being and the Economic Burden of Disease: What Are We Learning from Cancer Survivors?” With improvements in such areas as treatment and early detection, many survivors can now lead full and healthy lives after they complete treatment. But the cancer journey can be stressful at all stages, including from major financial problems. The impact of “financial toxicity” from disease on patients’ well-being is an emerging area of research.

Dr. Martin is multiple principal investigator of the new Emotional Well-Being and Economic Burden Research Network (EMOT-ECON). She will discuss the cancer survivorship journey and identify where there are needs to better understand patients’ and survivors’ cancer experiences. Projects and interventions from her work and others will be highlighted.

Secondly, on Thursday, June 23, from noon to 1 p.m. ET, Elissa Epel, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, will speak on “Advancing Research on Emotional Well-Being and Regulation of Eating.” Given the increasing levels of global stress, including from COVID-19, loneliness and mental health problems are on the rise, which adds to the burden of chronic diseases. Most health-oriented research takes a harm-reduction approach, i.e., identifying and mitigating problems to reduce disease burden. Understanding and promoting EWB may yield another important strategy to accomplish this and significantly improve people’s health. 

Dr. Epel is principal investigator of Advancing Psychosocial and Biobehavioral Approaches to Improve Emotional Well-Being, a new network to develop resources and a multidisciplinary community of scholars focused on researching EWB. She will discuss this work and, in addition, how stress and compulsive eating are interrelated (a longtime research focus for her). In this lecture, she will review findings and lessons learned from clinical trials, the lab, and the field. 

Please join us to learn more about the developing science of EWB and health.