Dr. Christopher Fagundes is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University. Working in the area of psychoneuroimmunology, his research examines how psychosocial adversity, including early life stress, spousal loss, and caregiving burden, among other interpersonal and social stressors, becomes biologically embedded to accelerate diseases of aging. This work spans disciplinary boundaries, reflected in his adjunct appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the Department of Behavioral Sciences at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. His commitment to the ethical conduct of human subjects research is reflected in his role as Chair of Rice University's Institutional Review Board.
Grounded in developmental theories of attachment and interpersonal stress, the Biobehavioral Mechanisms Explaining Disease (BMED) Laboratory integrates psychological and biological levels of analysis to investigate mechanistic pathways linking psychosocial risk to physical health outcomes. Using longitudinal observational and clinical trial designs, the lab examines processes of risk and resilience, including immune dysregulation, autonomic dysfunction, and mitochondrial biology, to understand how interpersonal and social determinants of health shape trajectories of aging-related chronic disease. The lab tests these models across multiple disease contexts, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). By identifying targets that are both psychologically meaningful and amenable to biological measurement and intervention, the lab develops and tests strategies to improve quality of life and reduce disease vulnerability in older adults.
Dr. Fagundes also directs Rice University's Institute of Health Resilience & Innovation (IHRI), which translates mechanistic research of the kind conducted in the BMED Lab into transdisciplinary collaboration, community-engaged scholarship, and intervention development. IHRI brings together investigators across Rice and the Texas Medical Center to apply that knowledge through cross-institutional partnerships and community-engaged research, with a particular emphasis on understanding how social determinants of health influence aging outcomes across diverse populations.
IHRI supports this mission through dedicated research cores, a seed grant program that supports transdisciplinary pilot projects, and community partnerships structured around the principle that scientific questions should be informed by the lived experiences and priorities of the populations most affected. This programmatic structure reflects a commitment to research that is both mechanistically rigorous and socially responsive.
Committed to translating rigorous science for broader audiences, Dr. Fagundes engages with communities and public health organizations and regularly presents at national and international scientific conferences. His work has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, NPR, Time, and Forbes. He oversees the Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine Research Interest Group and welcomes inquiries from prospective graduate students and postdoctoral fellows interested in psychoneuroimmunology, caregiving, bereavement, or aging-related chronic disease.