Brought to you by the Depression Is Real Coalition, The Down & Up Show is dedicated to the reality of depression. Each week our hosts will talk with some of the world's top experts on depression, as well as people who have been impacted by this illness. The reality of depression is that it is a debilitating and potentially deadly medical condition that affects more than 15 million Americans every year. The other reality of depression is that there is hope.

Karina W. Davidson, PhD

Co-Director, Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health

Karina Davidson, Ph.D. is the Co-Director of the Center for Behavioral & Cardiovascular Health at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. She is also the Associate Director of the Clinical & Translational Science Award at Columbia University Medical Center. Her program of research focuses on psychosocial interventions for patients with cardiovascular disease. She has conducted randomized controlled trials of anger management and depression treatment for both hypertensive and post-MI patients. Of note are her two randomized controlled trials demonstrating that anger expression changes gained from group therapy decrease hostility as well as blood pressure and hospital re-admissions. She also has a multi-site, multi-project NIH contract exploring the etiology, course and treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with acute coronary syndromes. She formed and was founding Chair of the Evidence-based Behavioral-Medicine committee, a task force charged by 7 national and international societies with improving and implementing evidence-based principles within behavioral medicine. She is now Director of the Cochrane Behavioral Medicine Field, an international effort to review and synthesize evidence for behavioral medicine interventions.