Contact Information

Center for Neurovisceral Sciences & Women's Health
11301 Wilshire Boulevard
Building 115, Room 223
Los Angeles, CA 90073
On-campus mail: BVA Building, 115 Room 223 179247
Tel: (310) 268-3242
Fax: (310) 794-2864
E-mail: naliboff@ucla.edu
Web: www.uclacns.org, www.uclamindbody.org, www.cure.med.ucla.edu

Biosketch

Dr. Naliboff received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and interned at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. During his tenure at UCLA and the VA he has served as senior psychologist in the UCLA and VA Pain Management programs and Health Psychology Consultation services. Dr. Naliboff's research has focused on psychophysiological mechanisms of stress and pain and includes studies of stress effects on the immune system, glucose regulation in diabetes, and cardiovascular variables. In the area of pain, he has utilized experimental pain procedures to study perceptual processes in chronic pain states such as chronic back pain, headache, and visceral pain. He has also studied psychosocial and personality variables in chronic pain and especially their impact on treatment choice and outcome. His work in functional gastrointestinal disorders and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) include perceptual, autonomic, and brain imaging studies of visceral sensation, and the role of psychosocial variables in the presentation, course and treatment of IBS. A major emphasis of his current work is the relationship between central stress mechanisms and both somatic and visceral pain disorders. Another area of interest is in the relationship between anxiety and symptoms in chronic pain disorders. Dr. Naliboff has NIH funding to study gender differences in central responses to visceral sensation as well as the role of visceral specific anxiety in irritable bowel syndrome. He has recently begun a clinical trial comparing several psychological treatments for IBS and has an ongoing clinical trial of opioid medications in chronic pain. He serves as a consulting editor for numerous scientific publications in psychology and medicine and on national and international committees as a grant reviewer and program consultant.

Selected References

Naliboff BD, Solomon GF, Gilmore S, Benton D, Fahey JL, Pine J. Rapid changes in cellular immunity following a confrontational role-play stressor. Brain Behavior and Immunity. 1995; 9: 207-219.

Naliboff BD, Munakata J, Fullerton S, Gracely R, Kodner A, Harraf F, Mayer EA. Evidence for two distinct perceptual alterations in irritable bowel syndrome. Gut. 1997; 41: 505-512.

Naliboff BD, Derbyshire SWG, Munakata J, Berman S, Mandelkern M, Chang L, Mayer EA. Cerebral activation in irritable bowel syndrome patients and controls subjects during rectosigmoid stimulation. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2001; 63: 365-375.