Burg co-edits special issue in Health Psychology

Matthew M. Burg, PhD, professor at the Yale School of Medicine and clinical psychologist, co-edited a special issue in the journal Health Psychology.

Research has shown that stress and emotional factors are major drivers of acute cardiac events. Despite the urgency to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease, access to specialty care is limited. The issue, Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine, is available online. It contains articles written by faculty members in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Psychiatry.

In the introduction, the co-authors outline future directions in cardiovascular behavioral medicine:

• Expand cardiovascular behavioral medicine research and demonstrate the impact of integrated interventions and health care delivery models.
• Integrate cardiovascular behavioral medicine patient care into holistic, team-based cardiovascular care.
• Create new models of clinical and research training to develop a workforce that is well prepared to achieve these visions of cardiovascular behavioral medicine research and patient care.

The new research includes:

• If not us, who? If not now, when? Paths forward in science, patient care, and training to maximize the impact of cardiovascular behavioral medicine, an introduction co-authored by Burg and Jesse C. Stewart from Indiana University.
• The Yale Roadmap for Health Psychology and Integrated Cardiovascular Care, commentary co-authored by Allison E. Gaffey, PhD, Kristie Harris, PhD, Carlos Mena-Hurtado, MD, Rajita Sinha, PhD, Daniel Jacoby, MD, and Kim G. Smolderen, PhD, MSc.

Burg is also a recipient of the Excellence in Health Psychology Research Award from the American Psychological Association.