Mustafa al'Absi

Professor

Department of Biobehavioral Health & Population Sciences
Joint Faculty at the Department of Family Medicine; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology; Graduate Faculty at the Department of Neurosciences, and Integrated Biological Science Program
Director, Duluth Medical Research Institute (DMRI)
Max E. and Mary LaDue Pickworth Chair

Research
My research team is engaged in multiple research programs across multiple sites in the U.S.A. and abroad. Our research focuses on the following themes:

• Neurobiological mechanisms of stress and risk for heart disease
• Biological and psychosocial predictors of addiction and relapse
• Pain perception and endogenous opioid system functions

Education

Teaching

1. Director of the Behavioral Medicine course and sections.

• Stress and Chronic Diseases
• Substance Abuse and Addictive Behaviors
• Behavioral Health in Primary Care

2. Chronic pain and headache: assessment and treatment

3. Involvement in the following courses:

Medical School

• Human Behavioral Development and Problems
• Medical Psychology: Interviewing
• Psychosocial Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases
• Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
• Behavioral Changes (Family Practice Residency Program)
• Stress Management (Family Practice Residency Program)

Graduate and Undergraduate Cources

• Introduction to Clinical Psychopharmacology
• Problems in Medical Behavioral Sciences
• Physiology of Organ Systems
• Physiology Research

Selected Publications

see also: PubMed

al’Absi, M., France, C.R., France, J., Harju, Wittmers, L.E. (2006). Adrenocortical and nociceptive responses to opioid blockade in hypertension-prone men and women. Psychosomatic Medicine, 68, 292-298.

al’Absi, M. (2006). Altered psychoendocrine responses to psychological stress and smoking relapse. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 59, 218-227

al’Absi, M., Devereux, R. B. Rao, D.C., Kitzman, D., Oberman, A., Hopkins, P., & Arnett, D. (2006). Blood pressure stress reactivity and left ventricular mass in a random community sample of African American and Caucasian men and women. American Journal of Cardiology, 97, 240-244.

al'Absi, M., Hatsukami, D., & Davis, G. (2005). Attenuated adrenocorticotropic responses to stress predict early relapse. Psychopharmacology, 181, 107-117.

al’Absi, M, France, C.R., France, J., Harju, A., Ring, C., McIntyre, D., Wittmers, L.E. (2005) Effects of baroreflex stimulation on pain perception and nociceptive flexion reflex in men and women. Psychophysiology, 42, 83-91.

al’Absi, M., Wittmers, L., Ellestad, D., Nordehn, G., Kim, S.W., Kirschbaum, C., & Grant, J.E. (2004). Sex differences in pain and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical responses to opioid blockade. Psychosomatic Medicine, 166, 198-206

al’Absi, M., Hatsukami, D., Davis. G. L., & Wittmers, L. (2004). Prospective examination of effects of smoking abstinence on cortisol and withdrawal symptoms as predictors of early smoking relapse. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 73, 267-278

al’Absi, M., & Lovallo, W.R. (2004). Neuroendocrine effects of caffeine and stress. In Nehlig, A., Coffee, Tea, Chocolate and the Brain. Nutrition, Brain, and Behavior : A Book Series. Taylor & Francis Group, New York.113-132.

al’Absi, M., & Petersen, K.L. (2003). Blood pressure but not cortisol mediates stress effects on subsequent pain perception in healthy men and women. Pain, 106, 285-95.

al’Absi, M., & Hoffman, R. (2003). Hypertension. In Cohen, L.M., McChargue, D.E., & Collins, F.L. The Health Psychology Handbook : Practical Issues for the Behavioral Medicine Specialist. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. pp. 252-278.

al’Absi, M., & Wittmers, L.E. (2003). Enhanced adrenocortical responses to stress in hypertension-prone men and women. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 25, 25-33.

al’Absi, M., Wittmers, L.E., Erickson, J., Hatsukami, D., and Crouse, B. (2003). Attenuated adrenocortical and blood pressure responses to psychological stress in ad libitum and abstinent smokers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 74, 401-410

al’Absi, M., Amunrud, T., & Wittmers, L.E. (2002). Psychophysiological effects of nicotine abstinence and behavioral challenges in habitual smokers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 72,707-716.

al'Absi, M., Hugdahl, K., & Lovallo, W. R. (2002). Adrenocortical responses and cognitive performance. Psychophysiology, 39, 95-99.

al’Absi, M., Devereux, R. B. Lewis, C., Kitzman, D., Rao, D.C., Hopkins, P., Markovitz, J., & Arnett, D. (2002) Relation of cardiovascular stress reactivity to left ventricular mass and relative wall thickness in hypertensives: effects of race and gender. American Journal of Cardiology, 89, 536-540.

al’Absi, M., Petersen, K., & Wittmers, L. (2002). Adrenocortical and hemodynamic predictors of pain perception in men and women. Pain , 92, 197-205.

al'Absi, M., & Arnett, D.K. (2000). Adrenocortical responses to psychological stress and risk for hypertension. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 54, 234-244

al’Absi, M., Petersen, K., & Wittmers, L. (2000). Blood pressure and not parental history for hypertension predicts pain perception in women. Pain , 88, 61-68

al’Absi, M., Bongard, S., & Lovallo, W. R. (2000). Effects of habitual anger expression and defensiveness on ACTH and cortisol responses to behavioral challenges. International Journal Psychophysiology, 37, 257-265

al'Absi, M., Buchanan, T., Marrero, A., & Lovallo, W. R. (1999). Sex differences in pain perception and cardiovascular responses in persons with parental history for hypertension. Pain, 83,331-338.

al'Absi, M., Lovallo, W. R., Mckey, B., Sung, B. H.., & Wilson, M. F. (1998) Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical responses to psychological stress and caffeine in men at high and low risk for hypertension. Psychosomatic Medicine , 60, 521-527.

Books

al’Absi, M. (Editor). Stress and Addiction: Biological and Psychosocial Mechanisms. 2007. Elsevier, London, U.K.