Division Head, Behavioral Medicine

Department / Division:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences / Behavioral Medicine

Address:
DUMC 3926
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-684-3863

Office Telephone:
919-684-3863

Fax Telephone:
919-681-8960

• MD, Yale University School of Medicine (Connecticut), 1967

• Yale-New Haven Medical Center (Connecticut), 1967-1970

• National Institute of Mental Health (Maryland), 1970-1972

Clinical Interests:
Biofeedback and other behavioral approaches to treating or preventing physical disorders, hostility and anger control, various pain syndromes, headache

Research Interests:
My research aims to identify psychosocial factors that are involved in the pathogenesis and course of major medical disorders, to characterize the biobehavioral mechanisms whereby such factors influence disease, and to develop both behavioral and pharmacologic means of preventing or ameliorating the adverse impact of psychosocial factors on health and disease.  Specific projects that are currently active include:  1) The influence of hostile personality, social isolation and depression upon the course of coronary heart disease; 2) Biological mechanisms whereby hostility influences health; 3) Behavioral approaches to amelioration of job stress; 4) Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to reduce psychobological manifestations of stress in person with hostile personality; 5) Use of SSRIs to treat depression in patients surviving a myocardial infarction; 6) Psychobiological effects of violence in film and television; 7) Use of support groups to provide training in hostility control and stress management in managed care setting; and 8) Demographic manifestations of stress and hostility in U.S. cities.

Representative Publications:
Williams, R.B. Neurobiology, cellular and molecular biology, and psychosomatic medicine. PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE, 56: 308-315, 1994. (1994)

Williams, R.B., Barefoot, J.C., Califf, R.M., Haney, T.L., Saunders, W.B., Pryor, D.B., Hlatky, M.A., Siegler, I.C., & Mark, D.B. Prognostic importance of social and economic resources among medically treated patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 267: 520-524, 1992. (1992)

Williams, R.B. Psychological factors in coronary artery disease: Epidemiologic evidence. CIRCULATION, 76: 117-123, 1987. (1987)

Williams, R.B., Lane, J.D., Kuhn, C.M., Melosh, W., White, A.D. & Schanberg, S.M. Type A behavior and elevated physiological and neuroendocrine responses to cognitive tasks. SCIENCE, 218: 483-485, 1982. (1982)

Williams, R.B., Haney, T.L., Blumenthal, J.A., & Kong, Y. Type A behavior, hostility, and coronary atherosclerosis. PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE, 42(6): 539-549, 1980. (1980)