Elissa Epel

Elissa Epel is an Associate Professor at UCSF. She is a psychology researcher who investigates the depths and intricacies of the mind-body connection. With her colleague Elizabeth Blackburn (Nobel Laureate, 2009) and team of collaborators, she has found that chronic psychological stress wears down the telomeres, the protective tips of chromosomes, around a decade earlier than expected. How we live, our everyday lifestyle choices are related to telomeres, and telomeres in turn predict early disease and death. Epel will share insights about how personality, mindset, and lifestyle can accelerate vs. protect us from premature cellular aging." Epel got her BA in Psychology from Stanford and PhD in Health Psychology from Yale. She was awarded the Am. Psychological Association Early Career Award. Epel is a co-founder of Telome Health, Inc., with Dr.'s Cal Harley, Elizabeth Blackburn, and Jue Lin.