Judith P. Andersen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga
Affiliated Faculty of Medicine | University of Toronto
Professor Andersen is a health psychologist who specializes in ambulatory psychophysiology research on stress and stress-related mental and physical health issues. With more than 15 years of experience working with populations exposed to severe and chronic stress, Professor Andersen’s research program includes three distinct themes:
Theme 1: Her ongoing research projects include the application of evidence-based interventions in North America and Europe to reduce police use-of-force. Through international collaborations with academics and practitioners, her team developed the novel biopsychosocial reality-based training (iPREP) shown to reduce police lethal force errors with the goal of saving lives. Her tri-council funded work (e.g., SSHRC) demonstrates the complexity of factors that influence police use-of-force, including operational and organizational stress as well as psychosocial factors such as systemic, explicit and implicit racism. Her multi-method approach to empirical research in this field has directly contributed to evidence-based updates in provincial and federal policy surrounding police training and visual models that emphasize de-escalation/non-escalation rather than police use-of-force. Called upon to advise on several parliamentary committees and respond to numerous population-based calls to action, Professor Andersen and her team continue to press policy makers to make-good on their promises to reform policing in Canada.
Theme 2: Professor Andersen’s federally funded research (e.g., CIHR) continues to customize evidence-based resilience programs for public safety personnel and health care workers exposed to trauma and those who are at risk for post-traumatic stress injuries.
Theme 3: Professor Andersen has long been dedicated to addressing health disparities among LGBTQ2S+ persons exposed to discrimination and trauma. Her team’s consistent collaborative work in this area insists on a critical shift away from the historical trend of research that pathologize LGBTQ2S+ persons through the use of illness narratives. Our recent work in this field revolves instead around the myriad, but often overlooked, factors demonstrating LGBTQ2S+ persons biopsychosocial resilience and thriving in the face of on-going challenges.
EDUCATION
Post-Doctoral Associate: Cornell University
Post-Doctoral Associate: U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital, Syracuse NY
Ph.D., Psychology and Social Behavior, health psychology specialization, University of California, Irvine
M. A., Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
M.A., Counseling and Art Therapy, Albertus Magnus College
- Counseling Internship: U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital, West Haven, CT
- Research Associate and Project Coordinator, Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, Yale University
B.Sci., Pacific Union College, summa cum laude
Mentors include: Peter Salovey, Yale University; Roxane Cohen Silver and JoAnn Prause, and Julian Thayer, University of California, Irvine; Lisa Feldman Barrett
and Karen Quigley, Northeastern University