Research Interests
Kyle Bourassa is a Staff Psychologist in the Research Service of the Durham VA Medical System and an Affiliate Investigator at Georgetown University in the Department of Psychology. At the Durham VA, he is an Affiliate Investigator with the VISN 6 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) and Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC). He is currently funded by a Career Development Award (CDA-2; IK2CX002694-01) awarded by the Clinical Science Research & Development (CSR&D) service of the VA Office of Research and Development (ORD). He is a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University Medical Center and continues to collaborate with the Moffitt-Caspi Lab at Duke University. Kyle received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in Psychology and History. He subsequently received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a focus on Health Psychology from the University of Arizona. He completed his doctoral internship at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System in Seattle and was then funded as a postdoctoral scholar by the National Institute on Aging through a T32 training grant (T32-AG000029) provided to the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University Medical Center. He then completed an advanced fellowship in aging at the Durham VA GRECC before transitioning to his current role as a funded investigator at the Durham VA.
Kyle’s research focuses on understanding how stress, adversity, and trauma might affect health across the lifespan. His work examines the psychosocial and physiological dysregulation that links the experience of stressors with the onset and progression of chronic diseases, disability, and premature mortality. His recent work has highlighted the role that inflammation and accelerated biological aging might play in linking stress and trauma to poor health as people age. His work makes use of both longitudinal cohort study designs and lab-based experimental paradigms, integrating top-down and bottom-up approaches. In addition to his work examining mechanisms of action, Kyle also studies how behavioral interventions might improve health among people who experience stress and trauma.