Robert Ader: Pioneer of Psychoneuroimmunology

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PNI Pioneer: Robert Ader
Robert Ader, Ph.D., was born in the Bronx, NY on February 20, 1932. He attended the Horace Mann School and later entered Tulane University in 1949. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1953 and immediately entering a graduate program at Cornell University where he earned a Ph.D. in psychology. He later works as a part-time instructor in the Department of Psychology and also a part-time instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry for nearly five decades.
Dr. Ader, the founder of psychoneuroimmunology. His theory is that our brain could significantly affect the ability of the immune system to fight disease. Dr. Ader spent almost his entire …show more content…

Ader and his partner Dr. Nicholas Cohen were experimenting about taste aversion involving rats with saccharine-sweetened water and Cytoxan injection (Cytoxan is a chemotherapy drug for cancer, side effects include stomach discomfort and can suppresses the immune system) when they stumbled upon a surprising result. Dr. Ader gave the rats water using an eyedropper. The rats who never received Cytoxan continued to drink the sweetened water normally. Unexpectedly, the rats that were treated with Cytoxan began to die from infections at a significantly rate higher than the rats who was never given it. Ader’s experiment revealed that after Cytoxan injections, the saccharine water alone suppressed the immune system. After many experiments, it confirmed that tasting the sweetened water can have triggered the nervous system to suppress the immune system. Prior to the experiment, many believes that there wasn’t such thing as a neuro-immune connection between the two. This experiment similar to the placebo effect where taking the sugar tablets, you expect to relieve pain triggers changes in the brain that do the relieve pain. After seeing the result, Ader and Cohen went on and confirmed that there are connections between the brain and immune …show more content…

In an interview for the American Institute for Stress, Dr. Ader stated: “It seems to me that basic research on the interaction among behavior, neuroendocrine and immune process has a bright future that promises new developments in our understanding of adaptive process with profound consequences for the maintenance of health and for the treatment disease.” (brightonmc.com). Dr. Ader earned many titles during his career, including the George Engel Professor of Psychosocial medicine (The Engel Award is presented annually for outstanding research contributing to the theory, practice and teaching of effective healthcare communication and related skills). He also continues to work in the field that he has created, psychoneuroimmunology, defending his theory again people who doubted him and continuing to build

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