Current Postdoctoral Fellows
First Year Fellows
Michelle Hoot
Michelle Hoot, Ph.D. received her Bachelor of Science from Wayne State University in Biopsychology and her
Ph.D in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a concentration in Neuroscience from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Her doctoral dissertation was entitled “The Effect Of Chronic Constriction Injury on Cellular Systems Within Nociceptive
Pathways Of The Mouse” and examined the effect of chronic pain on the mu-opioid and cannabinoid receptors as well as the
extracellular regulated kinases in the medial pain pathway. Results of her research suggest that chronic constriction
injury causes a desensitization of both the mu-opioid and cannabinoid receptors.
Dr. Hoot’s primary research interests involve the physiological and social factors involved in the establishment
and maintenance of chronic pain states. She is being co-mentored by Dr. Raja, Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical
Care Medicine, Director of Pain Research in the Division of Pain Medicine.and Dr. Haythornthwaite, Clinical Psychologist
in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Center for Mind-Body Research.
Second Year Fellows
Phillip Quartana
Phillip J. Quartana, PhD, received his Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with a training subspecialty
in Health Psychology from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. He completed his
clinical internship training at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Psychiatry.
His thesis, “Anger Suppression and Acute Pain Sensitivity: An ‘On-line’ Examination of the Role of Ironic
Processes,” was supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from
the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and examined the validity of an ironic
process model of anger suppression and exaggerated pain sensitivity (Quartana & Burns, 2007) using a
novel ‘on-line’ thought suppression paradigm.
Dr. Quartana’s chief research interest is the multi-method study of the acute and
delayed effects of stress and emotion regulation on cognitive-affective, peripheral physiological
and neurobiological processes related to acute and chronic pain. He has secondary interests in pain-related
catastrophizing and emotion regulation processes in cardiovascular responses to stress. During his post-doctoral
fellowship in Biobehavioral Pain Research, Dr. Quartana would like to develop proficiency in the
following domains: (a) neurobiological regulatory systems of pain and cardiovascular
processes (e.g., endogenous opioids, immune, and neuroendocrine systems), (b) psychophysical
pain testing (e.g., pressure and thermal pain testing, temporal summation, DNIC, and NFR)
and (c) statistical modeling of multi-wave and multi-level data. His mentors are Drs. Jennifer Haythornthwaite,
Clinical Psychologist and Director of the Center for Mind-Body Research, and. Gary S. Wand, Professor of
Medicine and Psychiatry and Director of the Endocrine Training Program and Neuroendocrine Services at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine.
Selected Representative Publications
Burns, J.W., Quartana. P.J., & Bruehl, S. (2008). Anger inhibition and pain: Conceptualizations, evidence, and
new directions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 259-279.
Bruehl, S., Burns, J.W., Chung, O.K., & Quartana, P. (2008). Anger management style and
emotional reactivity to noxious events among chronic pain patients and healthy controls: The role of endogenous
opioids. Health Psychology, 27, 204-214.
Quartana. P.J., & Burns, J.W. (2007). Painful consequences of anger suppression. Emotion, 7, 400-414
Quartana. P.J., & Yoon, K.L., & Burns, J.W. (2007). Anger suppression, ironic processes, and pain sensitivity.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 455-469.
Quartana, P.J., Burns, J.W., & Lofland, K.R. (2007). Attentional strategy moderates effects of pain
catastrophizing on symptom-specific physiological responses in chronic low back patients. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 221-231.