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Jennifer M. Loftis, PhD (she/her/hers)

Research Scientist; Professor
VA Portland Health Care System; Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR, United States

Jennifer M. Loftis, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist at the VA Portland Health Car e System and a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). As a VA career development award recipient, she identified a novel role for cytokines in the etiology of depressive symptoms in adults with chronic hepatitis C viral infection. This finding has guided the subsequent testing of hypotheses regarding how circulating inflammatory cytokines affect central nervous system functioning. Her translational research program studies the psychoneuroimmunological mechanisms contributing to mood disorders, cognitive impairments, and addiction and tests immunotherapeutic strategies to treat these conditions. This work includes: investigating the impact of hepatitis C and COVID-19 on immune response and neural circuits; testing hypotheses regarding the effects of inflammatory factors on central nervous system and psychiatric function; and evaluating interventions to reduce depression and anxiety, enhance cognition, and improve substance use disorder recovery outcomes. To support these research efforts, Dr. Loftis has been awarded grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and local foundations. She has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of psychiatry, neuroscience and immunology. In addition to her research efforts, Dr. Loftis has a long-standing interest in mentorship, teaching, and the development of new scientists. She has served as a mentor for the National Science Foundation’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program and is currently a mentor in the VA Mentorship program, OHSU’s Partnership for Scientific Inquiry, and Saturday Academy’s Apprenticeships in Science & Engineering program. Her goal as a scientist is to maintain a productive research program, one that allows for the pursuit of research, teaching, and community service and one that contributes to our understanding of neuropsychiatric impairments and inflammation in order to improve mental health and quality of life.

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

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