Oct 12, 2022
Dr. Lauren Whitehurst received her B.S. in Psychology and an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from James Madison University in 2011 and 2013, respectively and her PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 2018. She completed a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Center for Health and Community and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky. She is also Core Faculty in the Center for Health Equity Transformation and affiliated faculty in the Department of African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Whitehurst’s research focuses on answering questions about sleep and health, especially how the lack of access to restorative sleep is associated with disparities in cognitive health for communities historically underserved by science and medicine in the US. Dr. Whitehurst was a multi-sport athlete in high school and continued her basketball career throughout college. Today, I am excited to talk sports, injury, sleep, and health with Dr. Whitehurst.