Rate My Professor Marlies Alvarenga

Alvarenga’s research focuses on psychosomatic medicine, specifically cardiac neurosciences, exploring the links between stress, mental illness, and increased risk or incidence of cardiovascular disease. Her contributions include co-editing the Handbook of Psychocardiology (Springer, 2016), a comprehensive two-volume work with 60 chapters that has been downloaded several thousand times, establishing it as a benchmark in the field. She also co-edited Psychocardiology: Exploring the Brain-Heart Interface (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022, Volumes 1 and 2). Key publications encompass the development of the Cardiac Distress Inventory and its short form (BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, 2022 and 2023), studies on unraveling cardiac distress prevalence and severity (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022), buffering fear of COVID-19 through social connectedness (Behavioral Sciences, 2022), measurement of noradrenaline and serotonin metabolites in panic disorder and depressive illness (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022), and anxiety and depression after cardiac events (Frontiers in Psychology, 2020). In 2005, she won the Young Scientist Award at the Eighth Congress of Biological Psychiatry in Vienna for her research into panic disorder. Her work translates directly into clinical practice, advancing psychological interventions for cardiac patients and contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being.