Binder for website

Audrey Shillington, PhD
Concentration Lead: Epidemiology
Dr. Shillington is Professor and Director in the School of Social Work at CSU
and in the Department of Epidemiology in the Colorado School of Public
Health. Dr. Shillington’s research interests focus on adolescent and young
adult risk behavior prevention and reduction, psychiatric epidemiology,
psychometrics, alcohol and other drug use prevention and intervention.
Lauren Shomaker, PhD
Concentration at ColoradoSPH at CSU: Animals, People and the
Environment
Dr. Shomaker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human
Development and Family Studies at CSU and in the Department of
Community and Behavioral Health in the Colorado School of Public Health.
Dr. Shomaker is a child clinical psychologist whose research interests center
upon understanding the role of psychological functioning in the etiology, development, and
prevention of obesity and obesity-related health problems such as type 2 diabetes. Her
research seeks to elucidate to what extent psychological factors, such as depression and stress,
promote excessive body weight gain and insulin resistance, the major physiological precursor
of type 2 diabetes. She has a particular interest in identifying the behavioral and physiological
mechanisms by which depression and stress influence developmental trajectories of weight
gain and insulin resistance - theoretically, through emotional eating, being more sedentary,
inadequate sleep, and stress hormones. In a series of randomized controlled clinical trials, we
are testing whether mental health treatments for elevated depressive symptoms or stress in
at-risk adolescents lead to improvements in their metabolic health, lessening future risk of
developing major chronic diseases. Students working in the lab have an opportunity to learn
about psychological, behavioral, and physiological assessments to study depression; stress;
mindfulness; social functioning; nutrition and eating patterns such as emotional eating, eating
in the absence of hunger, disordered eating, and binge eating; physical and cardiorespiratory
fitness; obesity; and metabolic risk. Students are exposed to randomized controlled clinical
trials utilizing a variety of therapeutic modalities, including cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness,
and interpersonal psychotherapy.
Page 25 of 30