Bruce D. Naliboff, Ph.D. - Biographical Sketch
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Co-Director, UCLA Center for Integrative Medicine
Director, Human Physiological Reserach, CNS: Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women's Health, UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases
Chief, Psychophysiology Research Laboratory, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Senior Research Scientist, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

Research Interests

Dr. Naliboff’s research has focused on psychophysiological mechanisms of stress and pain. Past studies have addressed how stress impacts the immune system, glucose regulation in diabetes, and cardiovascular variables. He has also studied psychosocial and personality variables in chronic pain and especially their impact on treatment choice and outcome.

Dr. Naliboff conducts etiologic and treatment studies of functional gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). These include perceptual, autonomic, and brain imaging studies of visceral sensation, and the role of psychosocial variables in the presentation, course and treatment of IBS. A major emphasis of his current work is the relationship between central stress mechanisms and both somatic and visceral pain disorders. Another area of interest is in the relationship between anxiety and symptoms in chronic pain disorders. Dr. Naliboff has NIH funding to study gender differences in central responses to visceral sensation as well as the role of visceral specific anxiety in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He has recently begun a clinical trial comparing several psychological treatments for IBS and has an ongoing clinical trial of opioid medications in of chronic pain. He collaborates with other UCLA investigators on studies of neuroendocrine and immune factors in pain conditions such as IBS and fibromyalgia.

Recent publications

Naliboff BD, Berman S, Suyenobu B, Labus JS, Chang L, Stains J, Mandelkern MA, Mayer EA.
Longitudinal change in perceptual and brain activation response to visceral stimuli in irritable bowel syndrome patients.
Gastroenterology. 2006 Aug;131(2):352-65.

Levy RL, Olden KW, Naliboff BD, Bradley LA, Francisconi C, Drossman DA, Creed F.
Psychosocial aspects of the functional gastrointestinal disorders. Gastroenterology. 2006 Apr;130(5):1447-58. Review.


Naliboff BD, Berman S, Suyenobu B, Labus JS, Chang L, Stains J, Mandelkern MA, Mayer EA. Longitudinal change in perceptual and brain activation response to visceral stimuli in irritable bowel syndrome patients. Gastroenterology 2006;131:352-365.

Mayer EA, Naliboff BD, Craig AD.       
Neuroimaging of the brain-gut axis: from basic understanding to treatment of functional GI disorders. Gastroenterology. 2006 Dec;131(6):1925-42. Review. No abstract available.

Naliboff BD, Wu SM, Pham Q.            
Clinical considerations in the treatment of chronic pain with opiates. J Clin Psychol. 2006 Nov;62(11):1397-408.

Bruce D. Naliboff, Ph.D.
CNS: Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women's Health
CURE Building, 115 Room 223
11301 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90073
Tel: (310) 268-3242
Fax: (310) 794-2864
E-mail: naliboff@ucla.edu
Web: www.ibs.med.ucla.edu, www.uclamindbody.org