Dr. Joanna Spencer-Segal is a physician-scientist in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Michigan Neuroscience Institute. A neuroendocrinologist, she cares for patients with disorders of pituitary hormone function in the Multidisciplinary Pituitary Program. She runs a translational neuroendocrinology research program focused on improving our understanding of how circulating hormones control neural function and motivated behaviors, and the specific neural circuits that direct systemic endocrine function.

The Spencer-Segal lab focuses on the neural circuits that govern emotional behaviors, both innately and in response to stress. Many of the regions of and circuits in the brain that play a role in emotional behavior also influence the stress response. Stress hormones also act directly on brain regions that influence mood and related behaviors. The Spencer-Segal laboratory is disentangling the neural circuits that direct stressor-specific neuroendocrine and behavioral responses.

Another area of research involves the neuroendocrinology of critical illness and sepsis. Critical illness is often fatal, and survivors face an uphill battle that frequently includes mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cognitive dysfunction. Our lab is interested in understanding the role of the neuroendocrine stress response in short- and long-term critical illness outcomes, and using this knowledge to develop treatments to help patients. This research includes an interest in the influence of circulating hormones on memories formed during illness and their relationship to PTSD outcomes, the role of inflammatory mediators in anxiety- and depression-like emotional states in survivors, and mechanistic approaches to tackle the syndrome of glucocorticoid resistance during critical illness.