# CSR&D Research Career Scientist Award

> **NIH VA IK6** · DURHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · —

## Abstract

My research focus is on Veterans who have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a war-
related illness. I was among the first to document hostility, violence and anger among individuals (both men and
women) with PTSD. I was also among the first researchers to observe that individuals with PTSD self-report and
are diagnosed with more physical health problems, including cardiovascular disorders. This work has led to
several significant contributions in understanding the behavioral and psychophysiological mechanisms that may
contribute to increased risk of poor health among persons with PTSD, including that individuals with PTSD have
higher ambulatory heart rate and blood pressure, lower baroreceptor sensitivity, and lower heart rate variability. I
have shown that individuals with PTSD have reduced sleep duration and sleep efficiency, which may lead to
reduced levels of ambulatory heart rate variability, and that these effects occur early in the trajectory of those who
develop PTSD. I have investigated mechanisms that may explain the association between increased prevalence
and higher nicotine dependence in smokers with PTSD. I evaluated the effect of nicotine and smoking behavior on
prepulse inhibition as well as acoustic startle among smokers with and without PTSD. My research has shown that
smokers with PTSD experience higher craving and negative affect in response to trauma cues, that smoking
cigarettes with or without nicotine reduces symptoms, but the ameliorative effect is short lived, and that emotional
reactivity to trauma stimuli is related to a shorter time to smoking relapse. I have developed a novel mobile health
intervention that has shown tremendous promise toward reducing smoking among those with PTSD and other
psychiatric disorders. I have worked with my colleagues to demonstrate that global positioning monitoring may be
ultimately useful in intervening with smokers. I am currently expanding the evaluation of mobile health approaches
in a NIH-funded treatment development grant for smokers with schizophrenia and a merit review-funded
randomized clinical trial in homeless smokers. My mentees and I have several grant applications under review to
extend this work to changing two behavioral targets simultaneously (e.g., quitting alcohol and smoking cigarettes;
quitting smoking and increasing physical activity; and quitting smoking tobacco and marijuana). Each of these
approaches may help Veterans with key health problems. Because of my expertise in PTSD mechanisms and
experience with developing registries, I was invited to lead the Genetics Laboratory of the VA VISN 6 Mental
Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center in 2006, and I have served in that role since the inception of the
VISN 6 MIRECC. The current registry has collected DNA and RNA among nearly 4,000 returning Veterans. My
team and I have published a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with PTSD cases and non-cases, and
evaluated several candidate g...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10293570
- **Project number:** 5IK6BX003777-06
- **Recipient organization:** DURHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** JEAN C. BECKHAM
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-10-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10293570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10293570, CSR&D Research Career Scientist Award (5IK6BX003777-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10293570. Licensed CC0.

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