Eric Loucks, PhD
Director, Mindfulness & Cardiovascular Health Lab
Dr. Loucks is a Harvard-educated scientist who has held teaching positions at Harvard, McGill and Brown Universities. He is formally trained in cardiovascular physiology, social epidemiology, and mindfulness interventions. Dr. Loucks has over 75 peer-reviewed publications, and his work on mindfulness and cardiovascular health has been widely distributed through media organizations such as TIME Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, CNBC, and The Washington Post. He and his colleagues were the first to show associations of mindfulness with cardiovascular health, and they developed the first consensus theoretical framework of how mindfulness meditation could potentially reduce risk for cardiovascular disease. His scientific research is methodologically rigorous, where he reports what he finds, whether it is positive or negative. He brings that rigor to his interventions on mindfulness and cardiovascular health, allowing the science to infuse the practical mindfulness teachings offered.
Practically, Dr. Loucks has had a personal mindfulness meditation practice for almost 20 years. He is a Qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor, trained at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Dr. Loucks is experienced teaching a number of mindfulness-based interventions including MBSR, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP). He is the lead developer of MB-BP, and with his colleagues currently has a $4.7 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health to evaluate effectiveness of MB-BP and other mindfulness-based interventions.
Practically, Dr. Loucks has had a personal mindfulness meditation practice for almost 20 years. He is a Qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor, trained at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Dr. Loucks is experienced teaching a number of mindfulness-based interventions including MBSR, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP). He is the lead developer of MB-BP, and with his colleagues currently has a $4.7 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health to evaluate effectiveness of MB-BP and other mindfulness-based interventions.
Current Lab Members
Frances Saadeh, MPH
Senior Project Coordinator
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Frances Saadeh, MPH, Senior Project Coordinator is a novice to mindfulness but not to research. Fran has worked at Brown University for over a decade. She has overseen data collection on a number of different projects, with topics ranging from looking at quality of life outcomes of breast cancer survivors to studying residential moving patterns of mothers and their newborn infants. A two-time Brown graduate (’06, ’11) and Brown University employee, Fran lives in Providence with her three small children and two border collie pups. When not in the office, you may see her riding around Providence on her red moped or reading a good book on the green!
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Bill Nardi is a project coordinator for the lab and a graduate of the Masters of Behavior and Social Health Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health. He's interested in mindfulness and compassion focused training for substance abuse rehabilitation. Will's been practicing meditation for over 4 years and is in training to be a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor. In his free time, Will enjoys running, rock climbing, cooking for friends, reading, and hiking.
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Annie Wentz is a doctoral student in Epidemiology at Brown and holds an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Oregon Health and Science University and a BS in Biochemistry from Beloit College. Her research interests are in social determinants of health and reproductive health, and she is involved in evaluation of the lab's Mindfulness-Based Interventions. Before coming to Brown, she was a data analyst and project manager for Professor Martha Bailey at the University of Michigan and an evaluation assistant at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. When she’s not studying, Annie is usually knitting, making music, or whitewater kayaking.
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Marcia Pescador Jimenez is originally from Mexico City. Her research focuses on uncovering long-term impacts of neighborhood environment and early childhood adversities on stress markers and physiologic factors that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and how they differentially affect minority populations. She is currently a doctoral student in Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, and holds a master’s in Statistics from the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium, a master’s in Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston, and a bachelor degree in Actuarial Science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Outside the lab, Marcia enjoys mindfulness yoga, running and reading.
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Pamela Acero earned a B.S in Biology and a minor in Psychology at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. During her undergraduate career, she pursued her passion for service and developed an interest in Health Psychology. She began her research in the Applied Social Psychology Lab at GW in health behaviors surrounding obesity and weight status including diet, physical activity, and sleep.
Currently, she is pursuing her Master's in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences. Her interests are in the social and bio-behavioral determinants of health with a particular focus on stress. In the lab, she is working with Marcia and Anthony evaluating access to green space in early life. She is also part of the systematic review examining the impact of mindfulness on self-regulation and hopes to get involved with the Mindfulness-Based College Study this year. Pam is also a member of Dr. Willoughby Britton's Lab here at Brown. In her spare time, she enjoys running/working out, reading, and photography. |
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Emma Scarpa is a Master of Public Health candidate at Brown, with a BA in from Smith College where she majored in psychology with a concentration in Health, Culture and Science. Emma is fascinated by how relationships between our minds, bodies and environments shape health, and her research interests include health equity and the social determinants of health, cultural competency and doctor/patient communication, and integrative chronic pain management. She is involved with Mindfulness-Based Intervention studies for both Blood Pressure Reduction and College Students, and her thesis will explore relationships between mindfulness, physical activity and blood lipids. Emma enjoys being outdoors in her free time – hiking, biking, camping, running, working in her garden or napping in her hammock.
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Anthony is currently an undergraduate at Brown University, class of 2018. He is concentrating in Health and Human Biology, focusing on the Social Context of Health and Disease track. Originally working in the pilot stages of the Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Blood Pressure Reduction during the summer of 2015, he has transitioned to working with Marcia on her study on early life adversity and later life cardiovascular health. He is passionate about understanding how socially-influenced early life factors impacts later life health. In his spare time, Anthony enjoys discovering new recipes to cook, exploring city communities, and discussing social issues.
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Jodi Scharf is an undergraduate at Brown University, class of 2019, concentrating in Contemplative Studies with a focus on cognitive neuroscience. She was an intern for the Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College and is currently an undergraduate research assistant for the project on mindfulness influences on self-regulation. Outside of academics, she leads meditations for the Brown Meditation Community, is involved with community outreach for the Brown Brain Fair and Brain Bee, and creates workshops for Brown Health Promotions. In her down time, Jodi enjoys spending time with loved ones, performing with Gendo Taiko, a Brown-RISD Japanese drumming group, and playing trombone.
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Alumni Lab Members
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Cole Roberts is a Master of Science student in Epidemiology, graduating in 2016. Following graduation, he will be working in healthcare consulting at Navigant in Boston. He is originally from the San Francisco-Bay Area and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. He received his BA in Biology with an emphasis in Cell and Molecular Biology and a Minor in Spanish in 2013 and was also a member of the Varsity Football team, playing Offensive Line. In his free time, he enjoys watching his favorite Bay Area sports teams (Go Warriors!) and traveling, especially Latin and South America.
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Lauren Sager is a Master of Public Health Candidate at the Brown University School of Public Health. She graduated from Skidmore College in 2013 with a B.A. in International Affairs. As a Research Assistant in the Mindfulness and Cardiovascular Health Lab, she is involved in participant assessments and data analysis. Lauren is interested in complementary and integrative medicine, health care reform, non-communicable diseases, and international health and development. She received her RYT200 teaching certification in flow yoga in 2012 at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California. Outside of the lab, Lauren enjoys yoga, cooking, meditation, and boating.
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Hannah Kimmel graduated from Brown University in 2015 with a Bachelor's of the Arts in Linguistics, and stayed here to pursue a Master's of Public Health (Epidemiology Track). She is a Research Assistant on the Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Blood Pressure Reduction as well as on the NIH grant investigating the mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) that impact self-regulation. Her thesis will further explore MBIs effects on emotion regulation. Being from Colorado, Hannah loves to get outside and, ideally, in the mountains in her free time to hike and camp. She also enjoys yoga, running, cooking, coffee, traveling, and anything that has to do with dogs.
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Elisabeth George is a rising senior at Brown University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health. She is an undergraduate research intern on the Mindfulness-based Intervention for Blood Pressure Reduction. Her thesis will focus on analyzing the effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Interventions (MBIs) on college campuses for undergraduate students. She also has research interests in East Asian medicine, nutrition, physiology and immunology. In her free time she loves traveling, skiing, spending time with friends and playing the violin.
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