Zeidan Lab

04/26/2022

Check out this feature of our latest study from ABC10 News showcasing our work with survivors of gun violence. "Zeidan connected with Sandy and Lonnie Phillips and dozens of other gun violence survivors across the country, and spent eight weeks practicing mindfulness...With mindfulness training, the survivors found PTSD and depression decreased by 52%, self-reported trauma decreased by 37%, and grief decreased by 23%."

For the full article, visit https://www.10news.com/news/national/mindfulness-reducing-ptsd-and-depression-in-gun-violence-survivors

Gun violence survivors suffer from incredible trauma, but new research from the University of California at San Diego found mindfulness can help alleviate the PTSD and depression of severe trauma.

03/17/2022

Meet our Team - Jon Dean, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
B.S. in Biological Science
M.S. & Ph.D. in Molecular Integrative Physiology

Jon obtained his B.A. in Chemistry from Youngstown State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Jon is particularly interested in the brain mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of contemporary and integrative health interventions on ailments such as chronic pain, anxiety, stress, and depression. To that end, he is eager to expand the basic science graduate work he conducted on psychedelics and the neural correlates of consciousness to human/patient populations. When he's not , Jon likes to hike, enjoy a craft beer, play some guitar, and is going to learn to surf one of these hours.

Want to know more about our lab? Visit linktr.ee/zeidanlab to get involved!

03/03/2022

Meet Our Team 🌟
Dr. Fadel Zeidan, PhD
Laboratory Director

Dr. Fadel Zeidan is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego. He is also Co-Founder and Neuroscience Director of the newly formed UC San Diego Psychedelic Health and Research Initiative. His research is focused on determining the active mechanisms that mediate the relationship between self-regulatory practices and health. He and the laboratory have discovered the neural processes supporting mindfulness meditation and mindfulness-based pain relief. Recently, he and his team have demonstrated that mindfulness meditation is mechanistically distinct from and more effective than placebo, distraction, and relaxation. His research is currently funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and has disseminated his findings through traditional media outreach (CNN; NPR; Time Magazine, CBS, and others), TEDx and recently personally presented his work to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Mongolia.

02/16/2022

Check out this feature of our latest study in Mindful Magazine showcasing our work with survivors of gun violence. Although the results are preliminary, through this research and collaboration we have found mindfulness can help people navigate their pain and support post-traumatic growth.

For the full article, visit www.mindful.org/why-survivors-of-gun-violence-are-turning-to-mindfulness/

02/15/2022

We are excited to announce the creation of our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! Be sure to follow us to stay up to date on our upcoming projects, ongoing studies, and learn more about our lab members.

You can visit our website at www.zeidanlab.com or see a quick list of all our social media and relevant information at linktr.ee/zeidanlab.

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The primary aim of our laboratory is to determine the active neural, psychological, and physiological mechanisms supporting the self-regulation of pain and health. We are particularly interested in targeting said mechanisms to then create and optimize therapies to directly enhance well-being.

Our goal is to identify if changes in consciousness and awareness facilitate stabilized improvements in well-being. How do thoughts, feelings, and the contextual evaluation of our sensory environment affect the biopsychosocial aspects of health? We employ and combine a wide range of tools to answer these questions including but not limited to functional brain imaging, psychophysics, pharmacologic innervation, and psychological assessments.

Our lab is currently running mechanistically focused, placebo-controlled clinical trials to examine the effects and mechanisms supporting self-regulatory approaches (i.e. mindfulness), natural product assisted therapies (psilocybin; cannabis), and the potential combination of these emerging therapies to target a spectrum of health outcomes such as chronic pain, trauma, and cancer.