Heather L. Rusch | PhD | Senior Editor, Trauma / PTSD / Neuroscience

Heather L. Rusch is a Clinical Neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD.  She earned her Master’s in Neuroscience from Columbia University and completed her internship training at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), PTSD Research and Treatment Program. She earned her PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at NIH. Heather currently utilizes a combination of genomic and neuroimaging applications to determine biomarkers that mediate psychopathology in trauma exposed civilians and service members.  She aims to clarify adaptive body-brain interactions to inform the development of more effective and personalized therapeutics for individuals suffering with mental health conditions.

Heather has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, which include: Links between stress, sleep, and inflammation: a translational perspective of resilience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (2020)(download); Gene expression differences in PTSD are uniquely related to the intrusion symptom cluster: A transcriptome-wide analysis in military service members, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (2019); The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials, The New York Academy of Sciences (2018); Altered gene expression of the innate immune, neuroendocrine, and Nf-κB systems is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in military personnel, Journal of Anxiety Disorders (2015); Determinants of psychological resistance and recovery among women exposed to assaultive trauma, Brain & Behavior (2015); Improved sleep quality is associated with reductions in depression and PTSD arousal symptoms, as well as increases in IGF-1 concentrations, Journal of Clinical Seep Medicine (2015); and Neural, behavioral, and psychophysiological markers of fear processing in PTSD: A review of the literature,Current Psychiatry Reports (2013).  Her research has been featured in Wiley’s News Round-Up, New York Magazine, and Psychology Today.  Heather is an avid Vipassanā meditator and Lima Charlie News’ Senior Editor, covering trauma, PTSD, and general neuroscience topics.

Contact Heather by Email | [email protected]