Editor's Note: Everyday Health spoke with Bruce McEwan, PhD, in September 2019. We regret that he died on January 2, 2020.

A member of the Everyday Health Wellness Advisory Board, Bruce McEwen, PhD, is the former Alfred E. Mirsky Professor and head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at the Rockefeller University in New York City, where he leads research on the effects of sex, stress, and hormones on the brain. A prominent neuroscientist, Dr. McEwen is widely regarded as a pioneering researcher and one of the world’s authorities on stress. In 1968, his laboratory at Rockefeller University found adrenal steroid receptors in the hippocampus — a groundbreaking discovery that put the brain front and center in our understanding of the complex interactions of acute or chronic stress and the human body.

We sat down with McEwen to discuss his current work and to learn more about his perspective on wellness.

What are you working on now?

Novel antidepressants that act rapidly on a subtype of major depression; repurposing a drug, riluzole, to slow down Alzheimer’s disease; basic research regarding the effects of stress on the brain; and sex differences in stress effects on the brain.

Dr. McEwen on Stress

We all need to be better informed about stress. What should we know to increase our stress IQ?

A large part of how stress affects us is through our adopting health-damaging behaviors involving diet, alcohol, smoking, lack of exercise, social isolation, and poor sleep. We need to change those behaviors.

Dr. McEwen on Resilience

How do you define resilience?

Resilience is the ability to achieve a successful outcome in the face of adversity. It requires flexibility and a positive outlook based on learning from prior experience solving difficult problems.

We all at one time or another have a life experience that challenges our resilience. Can you describe what you learned about your own resilience after such an experience?

I learned to be more empathetic toward others who go through comparable experiences. It made me a better person.

Margot Slade

Author

Margot is a contributing editor, overseeing special reports and supporting editorial in producing timely and trusted consumer health, wellness, and medical science news and information. She is a seasoned reporter, editor, manager, and newsroom leader, having worked as a senior editor at The New York Times, as editor in chief at Consumer Reports, and as global managing editor at Bloomberg News, with senior and founding editor positions at several digital startups.

An expert in content development and branding, Margot is passionate about empowering people to make smart, informed decisions about their health and wellbeing. Before joining Everyday Health, Margot was senior editor of health and medical science at WNYC-New York Public Radio, where she developed hard-hitting reports such as the “We’ve Got You Covered” examination of Obamacare and the campaign for health insurance signup; broadcasts on the new truths about diabetes; and the well-received podcast series The Aftereffect, about adults with autism, and The Realness on hip-hop artist Prodigy and his struggle with sickle cell anemia. Margot has adult twins, Emma and Jacob. She currently lives in New Paltz, New York, with her British husband, a professional chef/caterer (yes, she married a man who cooks). She enjoys swimming, horseback riding, hiking, and planning travel adventures and visits with far-flung friends and family.

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