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About

Dr. Krantz is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at USUHS. During his career as a health psychologist, he has conducted interdisciplinary research on the role of psychological factors in cardiovascular disease, and the effects of psychosocial stress on health. The focus of this research has been on the effects of acute and chronic stress as trigger of coronary heart disease events, and he has published more than 200 scientific and professional papers in these areas. (Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZE2CdJ0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao). He has been Principal Investigator of several funded research projects, including the BETRHEART Study, which investigates stress and psychosocial factors in the progression of heart failure. He also collaborates with investigators in the USUHS Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress on studies of the relationship of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to incidence of cardiovascular disease, and on moderators of this relationship (e.g., co-occurring conditions such as metabolic risk factors, depression, and sleep) among active-duty service members. Current interests include relationships of PTSD to cardiovascular disease and other physical health problems, with an emphasis on PTSD as a "whole body" systemic disorder, rather than as a purely mental health problem. Dr. Krantz was formerly Chair of the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at USUHS between 1999-2014, and was one of a group of founders of the USU Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) and CDP Principal Investigator between 2006-2015. In the past, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the APA journal Health Psychology, president of the Health Psychology Division of APA, and president the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. He has been active in graduate education, and has supervised 25 doctoral dissertations in Medical and Clinical Psychology, and trained 11 post-doctoral fellows. David S. Krantz, PhD is Professor and former Chair in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at USU. Over his career, he has conducted extensive research and teaching on the impact of psychosocial stress on physical health, and on the role of psychological factors in cardiovascular disorders — a field on the interface of psychology and cardiology. One focus of his work has been the effects of acute stress as a precipitating factor for coronary heart disease events such as myocardial ischemia and malignant arrhythmias. He is Principal Investigator of the BETRHEART Study, which investigates the role of stress and behavior in the progression of heart failure, and is also part of a collaborative team examining psychosocial influences on coronary heart disease in women (the NHLBI WISE study). Dr. Krantz is also Principal Investigator of the Center for Deployment Psychology, a major national post-graduate educational program of the Department of Defense to train mental health providers to treat deployment-related behavioral health issues in military service members and their families. Dr. Krantz has served as a past president of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and the Division of Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He has published more than 180 scientific papers and chapters in areas related to stress and human health.

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Skills

Experience

Organization
Professor and former Chair of Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU)

Jun-1978 to Present

Publication

  • dott image September, 2013

Anginal Symptoms, Coronary Artery Disease, and Adverse Outcomes in Black and White Women: The NHLBI-Sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WI...

Background: Black women are less likely to be evaluated and treated for anginal symptoms, despite a higher premature cardiac mortality rate compared to white women. Our objective was to comp...

  • dott image February, 2012

Relationships Between Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Depressive Symptoms as Predictors of Cardiovascular Disease Events in Women

Background: Modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) account for much of the variability in CVD outcomes and are also related to psychosocial variables. There is evidence tha...

Self-Rated Versus Objective Health Indicators as Predictors of Major Cardiovascular Events: The NHLBI-Sponsored Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation

Objective: To determine the association between self-rated health and major cardiovascular events in a sample of women with suspected myocardial ischemia. Previous studies showed that self...

  • dott image December, 2009

Psychotropic medication use and risk of adverse cardiovascular events in women with suspected coronary artery disease: outcomes from the Women’s Isc...

Objective: This study investigated the relation between psychotropic medication use and adverse cardiovascular (CV) events in women with symptoms of myocardial ischaemia undergoing coronary ...

  • dott image November, 2009

Comorbid Depression and Anxiety Symptoms as Predictors of Cardiovascular Events: Results From the NHLBI-Sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation...

Objective: To study the independent and interactive effects of depression and anxiety symptoms as predictors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in a sample of women with suspected myoc...

Depressive Symptom Dimensions and Cardiovascular Prognosis Among Women With Suspected Myocardial Ischemia: A Report From the National Heart, Lung, and...

Context Symptoms of depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) overlap substantially. Differentiating between dimensions of depressive symptoms may improve our understanding of the relatio...

  • dott image January, 2009

Depression and Cardiovascular Health Care Costs Among Women With Suspected Myocardial Ischemia: Prospective Results From the WISE (Women's Ischemia Sy...

Objectives: This study evaluated 3 novel questions in a prospective clinical cohort of women undergoing evaluation for suspected myocardial ischemia: 1) What is the relationship between dep...

Social Networks and Incident Stroke Among Women With Suspected Myocardial Ischemia

Objective: To describe the prospective relationship between social networks and nonfatal stroke events in a sample of women with suspected myocardial ischemia. Social networks are an indep...

  • dott image January, 2008

Depression, the Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Risk

Background: The relationship between depression and the metabolic syndrome is unclear, and whether metabolic syndrome explains the association between depression and cardiovascular disease...

  • dott image January, 2007

Anger, Hostility, and Cardiac Symptoms in Women with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease: The Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) Study

Objective: To determine the relationship of anger and hostility to angiographic coronary artery disease (CAD), symptoms, and functional status among women with suspected CAD. Methods: Data ...