Richard P. Sloan, PhD

Dr. Sloan's principal work focuses on identifying the autonomic nervous system mechanisms linking psychological risk factors such as depression, hostility, and anxiety to heart disease. Funded research studies address various aspects of this problem:

1) using the quasi-naturalistic model of cardiac transplantation to examine how loss of autonomic control of the heart influences blood pressure responses to challenge;

2) examining how enhancing cardiac autonomic control by aerobic conditioning contributes to blood pressure regulation;

3) determining whether reducing hostility and anger, by cognitive-behavioral treatment, enhances cardiac autonomic control;

4) examining the serotonin transporter in cytokine-induced depression;

5) identifying the moment to moment impact of negative interpersonal interactions on autonomic nervous system regulation of the cardiovascular system; and

6) examining the impact of aerobic training on neurogenesis.

In addition, Dr. Sloan and colleagues have explored and criticized the purported links between religion, spirituality, and health that have appeared in popular and medical publications. They have examined the empirical basis of the claim that religious activity promotes health and identified significant ethical, practical, and even theological problems associated with making religious activity an adjunctive medical procedure.

He is the author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine (St. Martin's Press).