Lesley Graff, PhD

Research summary

Dr. Graff’s research has centered on psychological processes and interventions in gastrointestinal and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Graff is a core investigator with the UM’s IBD Clinical and Research Centre, where she has led the team’s internationally recognized work examining the role of psychological factors such as stress, depression, anxiety, and resilience in disease course and management of IBD.

Research collaborations include colleagues nationally through the IMAGINE GI research network, and internationally at Harvard (celiac disease) Cleveland Clinic (pouchitis) and Australia (IBD and IBS).

Research themes

Psychological processes in chronic disease

Keywords

• Gastroenterology
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Psychological treatment
• Psychology
• Stress

Research affiliations

IBD Clinical and Research Centre

Research groups

• IMAGINE SPOR Research Network (Inflammation, microbiome & alimentation gastro-intestinal neuropsychiatric effects)
• Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease (IMID) research group
• Comorbidity and Cognition in Multiple Sclerosis (CCOMS) study group
• Manitoba Celiac Disease Research Group

Dr. Lesley Graff is a professor and department head of clinical health psychology at the University of Manitoba.

She is also provincial specialty lead, clinical health psychology, Shared Health Manitoba.

As a health psychologist, Dr. Graff’s clinical and academic work is integrated with behavioral medicine with acute and chronic disease, focused on gastrointestinal disorders and chronic pain.

She is on medical staff at Health Sciences Centre, where she developed and continues to work clinically in the GI Psychology clinic.

Education

PhD in Clinical Psychology, University of Manitoba (1993)

Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology, University of Saskatchewan (1987)

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, University of Saskatchewan (1985)