David S. Krantz

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.