Carolyn M. Mazure

Carolyn M. Mazure is an American psychologist and the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale School of Medicine. She created and directs Women’s Health Research at Yale — Yale’s interdisciplinary research center on health and gender.

Research
Her research contributions have focused on depression, the single greatest cause of disability for women in the U.S. and globally, including the sex-and-gender-specific relationship of stress to depression and co-occurring addictive behaviors such as smoking, and opioid use and misuse. Current research targets the intersection of biological and social factors affecting the health of women, gender-specific strategies for promoting resilience, and health policies that serve to advance economic stability for women.

Professional service
After three years at the National Institutes of Health and fellowship training at Yale, Mazure joined the Yale faculty — becoming an active clinician and NIH-funded researcher. She was the Director of Psychiatry’s Adult Inpatient Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and has held a variety of other leadership roles, including Associate Dean for Faculty at Yale School of Medicine, Scientific Director of NIH-funded SCOR(E) interdisciplinary research grants, and PI of NIH-funded junior faculty training grants.

Mazure served on the planning committee for the First White House Conference on Mental Health, was a fellow for the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired the American Psychological Association’s Summit on Women and Depression, and has provided testimony to the United States Senate and House of Representatives on the importance of women’s health research. She previously served on the Advisory Committee for the NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health.

In 2023, Mazure was appointed Chair of the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, which aims to fundamentally change how the nation approaches and funds women's health research.

Honors and recognition
Mazure has been an invited speaker at diverse venues ranging from NASA and the Smithsonian Institution to the International Psychogeriatric Association Meetings in Stockholm, Sweden. She has been a featured expert on ABC’s Prime Time Live and in the BBC documentary The Science of Stress. Her books include Does Stress Cause Psychiatric Illness? and Understanding Depression in Women: Applying Empirical Research to Practice and Policy. Among Mazure's many accomplishments and accolades include:


 * Elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering in 2010.
 * Inducted to the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2009
 * Received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Leadership Award
 * Served on the Committee on Women in Psychology in 2008
 * Received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from the National Organization for Women — Connecticut Chapter in 2007
 * Received the Marion Spencer Fay Award from Institute for Women's Health and Leadership in 2007
 * Received the Stephen Fleck Clinician and Teacher Faculty Award from the Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine in 1994
 * Served as United States Public Health Service Fellow in 1979

Selected publications

 * 1) Lowe SR, Hennein R, Feingold JH, Peccoralo LA, Ripp JA, Mazure CM, Pietrzak RH. Are women less psychologically resilient than men? Background stressors underlying gender differences in reports of stress-related psychological sequelae. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2021.
 * 2) Jan J, Osho A, Murphy CC, Mazure CM, Singal AG, Rich NE. Gender, age, racial, and ethnic disparities in clinical trial enrollment for primary liver cancer. Gastroenterology, 2022 Mar 12, S0016-5085(22)00266-9. PMCID: PMC9232956.
 * 3) Stachenfeld NS, Mazure CM. Precision medicine requires understanding how both sex and gender influence health. Cell, 185(10): 1619-1622, 2022.
 * 4) Colic L, Clark A, Sankar A, Rathi DJ, Goldman D, Kim D, Villa L, Edmiston KE, Lippard ETC, Pittman B, Constable RT, Mazure CM, Blumberg HP. Gender-related association among childhood maltreatment, brain structure and clinical features of bipolar disorder. European Neuropsychopharmacology, Oct (63):35-46, 2022.
 * 5) Gnall KE, Sacco SJ, Park CL, Mazure CM, Hoff RA. Life meaning and mental health in post-9/11 veterans: the mediating role of perceived stress. Anxiety Stress Coping. Dec 21:1-14, 2022.
 * 6) Hennein R, Lowe SR, Feingold JH, Peccoralo LA, Ripp JA, Mazure CM, Pietrzak RH. Pre- and peri-traumatic event stressors drive gender differences in chronic stress-related psychological sequelae: A prospective cohort study of COVID-19 frontline healthcare providers. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 162:88-94, 2023.
 * 7) Martin K, Mazure CM. Medical education as a moderator of clinical care in haematology: The value of teaching the influence of sex and gender on health outcomes. The Lancet Haematology, May;10(5):e318-e319, 2023.
 * 8) Davis DR, Krishnan-Sarin S, Mazure CM. Considerations of sex & gender in FDA tobacco regulation: Reducing harm & enhancing public health benefit. JAMA, 2023 May 26.
 * 9) Mazure CM, Pietrzak, RH, Husky M. Stress as a risk factor for mental disorders in a gendered environment.  JAMA Psychiatry, 2023 Sep 6.