DIANA WANG
(201) 887-4848 / [email protected]
3715 McClintock Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90007
EDUCATION
University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA
Brandeis University, Waltham MA
Ph.D. in Gerontology expected 2018
B.S. in Neuroscience & Biology, 2013
HONORS AND AWARDS
2015-present Multidisciplinary Research Training in Gerontology Grant - Ruth L. Kirschstein
National Research Service Award, National Institute on Aging
2013
Fulbright Research Finalist
2012
1st Place Student Poster Award, Massachusetts Gerontology Association
2012
Giddon Grant for Research on Women’s Health, Brandeis University
2011
Jerome A. Schiff Research Fellowship, Brandeis University
2011
World Of Work Fellowship, Brandeis University
2010-2013
Dean's List, Brandeis University
2009-2013
Premier Trustees Merit Scholarship, Brandeis University
2012-2013
Americorps Student Leadership in Service Award
PUBLICATIONS
McInnis, C., Wang, D., Thoma, M.V., Gianferante, D., Hanlin, L., Chen, X.J., Rohleder, N., (2015)
Response and Habituation of Inflammatory and Anti-Inflammatory Gene Transcription to
Repeated Psychosocial Stress. Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
Wang, D., Gruenewald, T. (In Preparation) The Psychological Toll of Imbalance in Perceived Social
Support Exchanges.
Gruenewald, T. L., Wang, D., Seeman, T., Karlamangla, A., Sidney, S., Young-Wolff, K., (In
preparation) Allostatic Load as a Physiological Underpinning of Poor Health Risk in
Individuals with Low Socioeconomic Status: Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young
Adults (CARDIA) Study.
Kuras, Y. I., McInnis, C. M., Thoma, M. V., Gianferante, D., Hanlin, L., Wang, D., Rohleder, N.,
(In preparation) HPA Axis Hypo-reactivity and Immune Hyper-reactivity in Individuals with
Childhood Physical Neglect.
POSTERS AND PRESENTATIONS
Wang, D., Gruenewald, T., (April 2015 – Under review) A Give and Take: Balance in Social
Support Exchange and Affective Well-being. California Council on Geriatrics and
Gerontology? Long Beach, CA.
Wang, D., Gruenewald, T., (Mar. 2015) 7 Habits a Day Keep Poor Physiology Away. Poster session
to be presented at the annual meeting of American Psychosomatic Society. Savannah, GA.
Gruenewald, T., Sidney, S., Karlamangla, A. S., Wang, D., Seeman, T. (Mar. 2015) Does Allostatic
Load Underlie Greater Risk of Coronary Artery Calcification in those of Lower
Socioeconomic Status? American Psychosomatic Society. Savannah, GA.
Wang, D., Gruenewald, T. (Nov. 2014) Is it Better to Give or to Receive? Affective Well-Being
Correlates of Support Provision and Receipt. Gerontological Society of America.
Washington DC.
Gruenewald, T., Hagood, E. W., Wang D., Grossman, M., Nowaskie, J., Stanton, D., Marcione, N.
(Nov. 2014) Design and Implementation of the Intergenerational Art Through the Ages
Activity Intervention. Gerontological Society of America. Washington DC.
Hagood, E. W., Gruenewald, T., Grossman, M., Wang D., Rashad, R., Rusli, K., Kariyawasam, S.,
Marcione, N., (Nov. 2014) A Feasibility Assessment of an Electronic Experience Sampling
Tool for Use with Older Adults. Gerontological Society of America. Washington DC.
McInnis, C., Thoma, M., Gianferante, D., Hanlin, L., Chen, X.J., Wang, D., Gross, B., Habituation
of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory gene expression responses to repeated acute
stress (Nov. 2014) Society for Neuroscience, Washington DC.
Wang, D., Thoma, M.V., Yatskar, A., Hanlin, L., Gianferante, D., Chen, X.J., Rohleder, N., (Mar.
2014) Divergent Acute Stress-Induced Changes in Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Gene
Expression and Plasma Inflammatory Mediators. American Psychosomatic Society, San
Fransisco, CA.
Coplon, J., Wang, D., (Nov. 2013) Grandmotherhood as a Protective Factor from Stress: A Pilot
Study of Ugandan Elders as Primary Caregivers of AIDS-orphaned Children. Gerontological
Society of America. New Orleans, LA.
Wang, D., Thoma, M.V., Saltz, J., Rohleder, N., (Oct. 2013) Sensitization of IL-6 Responses to
Repeated Acute Stress in Post-Menopausal Women. Society for Psychophysiological
Research. Florence, Italy.
Saltz, J., Thoma, M.V., Portelli-Gupta, J, Wang, D., Rohleder, N. (Mar. 2013) Mild-to-moderate
childhood abuse scores are associated with an increased interleukin-6 response to repeated
acute psychosocial stress in healthy adults. American Psychosomatic Society. Miami, Fl.
Wang, D., Thoma, M.V., Yatskar, A., Saltz, J., Rohleder, N., (Mar. 2013) Perceived Purpose in Life
is related with reduced inflammatory responses to repeated acute psychosocial stress.
American Psychosomatic Society. Miami, Fl.
Wang, D., Thoma, M. V., Fogelman, N., Farver, E., Malik, A., Wilson, L., Rohleder, N., (Sep. 2012)
Does perceived purpose in life predict better regulation of inflammation? Society for
Psychophysiology Research, New Orleans, LA.
Gianferante, D., Thoma, M.V., Wang, D., Saucier, E., and Rohleder, N. (Mar. 2012) Trait
rumination is correlated with initial, but not subsequent cortisol responses to social stress.
American Psychosomatic Society. Athens, Greece.
Wang, D., Gianferante, D., Lerman, M., Dahlben, B., Thoma, M.V., Rohleder, N., (2012)
Maladaptive stress response patterns in post-menopausal women. Massachusetts
Gerontology Association, May 15, 2012, Waltham, MA.
Hanlin, L., Thoma, M.V., Dahlben, B., Evans, C., Johnson, J., Wang, D., Rohleder, N. (Sep. 2011)
Engagement in leisure activity predicts lower IL-6 levels in response to a social stress task.
Society for Psychophysiological Research, Boston, MA.
Thoma, M.V., Berman, E.R., Gray, S.J., He, J.A., Lerman, M.H., Nichols, K.M., Specker, M.F.,
Wang, D., Wolf, J.M. & Rohleder, N. (Mar. 2011) Relationship of the diurnal rhythm of
heart rate variability with plasma interleukin-6 and salivary alpha-amylase. American
Psychosomatic Society, San Antonio, TX.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Healthy Aging Laboratory, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2013-present
▪ with Tara Gruenewald
Universal Assessment Instrument, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 2014-2014
▪ with Kathleen Wilbur, USC, Debra Saliba, UCLA
Laboratory for Biological Health Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2009-2013
▪ with Nicolas Rohleder
SKILLS
▪ Cognitive function assessments - Mini Mental State Exam, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning
Task
▪ Physical performance assessments - Gait speed, upper and lower extremity strength,
balance tests
▪ Assay Skills - ELISA, RNA Extraction from blood, qPCR
▪ Psychophysiology Skills - signal collection, and analysis of Heart Rate Variability and
Cardiac Impedance data using MindWare hardware and software
▪ Software Skills - SPSS, R, SAS, EPrime, Qualtrics, WordPress, Web Builder, EndNote,
Microsoft Office
▪ Foreign Languages - Conversational Mandarin Chinese, Fluent Shanghai Dialect, Basic
French
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
▪ Gerontological Society of America
▪ California Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics
▪ American Psychosomatic Society
▪ Society for Psychophysiology Research
▪ Massachusetts Gerontology Association