Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychology & Neuroscience | Baylor University
Waco, TX, UNITED STATES
An expert in neuroimaging, psychophysiological, neuroendocrine, and epidemiological methods.
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Biography
Dr. Ginty completed her Ph.D. in Behavioral Medicine at University of Birmingham. She was awarded the University of Birmingham’s Ratcliffe Prize for best PhD in science. Her Ph.D. work examined the behavioral and neural correlates of diminished cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress. Dr. Ginty was then awarded a two-year AXA Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to investigate the relationship between biological responses to stress and adaptation during a stressful life transition. Dr. Ginty then completed a T32 Fellowship in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine at University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Ginty joined the Baylor Faculty in Fall 2016.
Dr. Ginty was named a Rising Star by the American Psychological Association in 2017. Dr. Ginty is actively conducting research examining the relationship between psychological stress and disease. Additionally, she works with local non-profit organizations serving at risk adolescents to provide interventions (i.e., high intensity interval training workouts) that reduce stress and improve health.
How does the brain link psychological experiences, such as stress, with cognitive, biological, and behavioral changes that matter for health? This question is at the heart of Dr. Ginty’s research program which integrates neuroimaging, psychophysiological, neuroendocrine, and epidemiological methods. Her particular focus is on the neurobiology of peripheral nervous system and cardiovascular responses to stress and their relationship with unhealthy behaviors and future disease.
Areas of Expertise (8)
Health Psychology
Psychological Stress
The Nervous System
Epidemiological Methods
Neuroimaging
Neuroendocrine Methods
Cardiovascular Medicine
Stress
Education (2)
University of Birmingham (UK): Ph.D., Behavioral Medicine
Allegheny College: B.S., Neuroscience & Psychology
Links (2)
Media Appearances (11)
Stress less – it might protect you from Covid
The Conversation online
2021-12-19
Annie Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, and a colleague from the University of California-Irvine write about how stress increases the chance of getting sick, a particular concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Research Shows That ‘Hypersensitive’ People May Be Better At Handling Stress
The Medium online
2021-03-29
A Baylor University study led by Annie Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, found that people who showed a more intense response to stress before the COVID-19 pandemic were less likely to experience PTSD after it started.
New Research Shows That ‘Hypersensitive’ People May Be Better At Handling Stress
Forbes online
2020-12-17
Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, discusses her study on college students that tested their heart rate responses during stressful situations such as doing mental math and the study’s connection to PTSD symptoms including those related to stress onset by the global pandemic.
New Science On Stress: Feeling Your Feelings Works Better Than Toughing It Out
Forbes online
2020-10-20
This article about how being in touch with your emotions can help lower stress cites recent Baylor research led by Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, whose team found that those who showed more toughness during a stressful task were more likely to develop PTSD once the COVID-19 pandemic began.
People with less body response to stress task had more PTSD signs after COVID-19 began
EurekAlert online
2020-08-31
A study led by principal investigator Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience; and co-author Danielle Young, Psy.D., research coordinator in the Baylor Behavioral Medicine Lab, showed participants had lower biological arousal in response to distress from the pandemic.
Baylor University: Scientific evidence shows exercise during times of stress can help people cope
KXXV-TV tv
2020-03-27
VIDEO: Baylor psychology and neuroscience professor Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., who studies the relationship between psychological stress and disease, was interviewed for this story about the need for people to maintain exercise, and a sense of normalcy.
Baylor Connections: Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
KWBU-FM (Waco/NPR) radio
2020-01-24
AUDIO: On Baylor Connections, Baylor psychology and neuroscience professor and Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., joins host Derek Smith for a conversation about her research that bridges understanding of the ways the mind and body react to stress.
Baylor students study how stress affects the heart
KXXV-TV (Waco, Temple, Killeen/ABC) tv
2019-06-27
VIDEO: Students at Baylor are studying the different kinds of stress and the effects they have on the body’s most vital organ — the heart. Exercise stress is “the good kind” and psychological stress is the bad. "We're really trying to understand the way the heart responds differently to these two kinds of stress and what about a person makes them a greater risk of developing disease," said Annie Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. Ginty is seeking volunteers to partake in the study by going through a series of tests to monitor the stress levels they experience.
Baylor Psychology Professor Named a ‘Rising Star’ by the Association for Psychological Science
Baylor online
2018-01-19
Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in the College of Arts & Sciences at Baylor University, has been selected as a “Rising Star” by the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the leading international organization dedicated to advancing scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders. [...]
High-risk youth will get high-intensity workouts
KWTX online
2018-01-04
So she's partnering with Annie Ginty and Danielle Young from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University, to run a 12-week workout program at the Cove, a center where homeless teens can go after-school to do homework, have a hot meal, and soon, get fit. [...]
The path to college: First-generation students tell their stories
Allegheny College online
2017-03-20
Annie Ginty, a 2009 Allegheny graduate and now assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences, is among first-generation Allegheny College students, alumni, faculty members and administrators who are featured in this article about blazing their own trail, the resources they discovered and the lessons they learned along the way. Ginty’s parents “were immigrants who wanted better opportunities for their children than they had. They wanted us to take advantage of the opportunities we had.” It wasn’t until graduation day that she realized the weight of the moment – for her and her parents. “It was just such a happy day,” she said. “You could tell they were incredibly proud.”
Research Focus (1)
Academic Interests and Research
How does the brain link psychological experiences, such as stress, with cognitive, biological, and behavioral changes that matter for health? This question is at the heart of Dr. Ginty’s research program which integrates neuroimaging, psychophysiological, neuroendocrine, and epidemiological methods. Her particular focus is on the neurobiology of peripheral nervous system and cardiovascular responses to stress and their relationship with unhealthy behaviors and future disease.
Articles (2)
Diminished cardiovascular stress reactivity is associated with lower levels of social participation
Journal of Psychosomatic ResearchNeha A John-Henderson, Cory J Counts, Courtney S Sanders, Annie T Ginty
2019 We aimed to examine whether diminished cardiovascular reactivity in response to an acute lab stressor was associated with reported social participation. The analyses were conducted using publicly available data from the Pittsburgh Cold Study 3 (PCS3).
Increased stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity is associated with reduced amygdala and hippocampus volume
PsychophysiologyAnnie Ginty et al.
2019 Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The amygdala and hippocampus have been implicated in centrally mediating stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity. However, little is known about the associations of amygdala and hippocampus morphology with stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity. Forty (Mage = 19.05, SD = 0.22 years) healthy young women completed two separate testing sessions. Session 1 assessed multiple parameters of cardiovascular physiology at rest and during a validated psychological stress task (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test), using electrocardiography, Doppler echocardiography, and blood pressure monitoring. In Session 2, 1 year later, structural MRI was conducted. Brain structural volumes were computed using automated segmentation methods. Regression analyses, following Benjamini‐Hochberg correction, showed that greater heart rate and cardiac output reactivity were associated with reduced amygdala and hippocampus gray matter volume. Systolic blood pressure reactivity was associated with reduced hippocampus volume. In contrast, no associations between diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure, stroke volume, or total peripheral resistance reactivity with amygdala or hippocampus volumes were apparent. Comparison analyses examining insula volume found no significant associations. Some indicators of greater stressor‐evoked cardiovascular reactivity associate with reduced amygdala and hippocampus gray matter volume, but the mechanisms of this association warrant further study.
