ABOUT DR. ANDERSEN

Judith P. Andersen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga
Affiliated Faculty of Medicine | University of Toronto

Professor Andersen is a health psychologist who specializes in ambulatory psychophysiology research on stress and stress-related mental and physical health issues. With more than 15 years of experience working with populations exposed to severe and chronic stress, Professor Andersen’s research program includes three distinct themes:

Theme 1: Professor Andersen is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to develop develop and refine evidence-based resilience programs for public safety personnel exposed to trauma and those who are at risk for post-traumatic stress injuries.

Theme 2: Her ongoing research projects include the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions in North America and Europe to reduce police use-of-force. Through international collaborations with academics and practitioners, her team developed the novel biopsychosocial reality-based training (iPREP) shown to reduce police lethal force errors with the goal of saving lives. Funded work by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), her work demonstrates the complexity of factors that influence police use-of-force. Her multi-method approach investigates police training and visual models that emphasize de-escalation/non-escalation.

Theme 3: Professor Andersen has long been dedicated to addressing health disparities among LGBTQ2S+ persons exposed to discrimination and trauma. Her team’s consistent collaborative work in this area insists on a critical shift away from the historical trend of research that pathologize LGBTQ2S+ persons through the use of illness narratives. Our recent work in this field revolves instead around the myriad, but often overlooked, factors demonstrating LGBTQ2S+ persons biopsychosocial resilience and thriving in the face of on-going challenges.

EDUCATION

Post-Doctoral Associate: Cornell University

Post-Doctoral Associate: U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital, Syracuse NY

Ph.D., Psychology and Social Behavior, health psychology specialization, University of California, Irvine

M. A., Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine

M.A., Counseling and Art Therapy, Albertus Magnus College

Counseling Internship: U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital, West Haven, CT
Research Associate and Project Coordinator, Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, Yale University

B.Sci., Pacific Union College, summa cum laude

Mentors include: Peter Salovey, Yale University; Roxane Cohen Silver and JoAnn Prause, and Julian Thayer, University of California, Irvine; Lisa Feldman Barrett and Karen Quigley, Northeastern University