Jordan Gaines Lewis
ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Psychiatry | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Jordan Gaines Lewis is an award-winning science communicator whose work has been featured in CNN, TED, and NBC, among others
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Industry Expertise (2)
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Areas of Expertise (3)
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Neuroscience
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Biography
Jordan Gaines Lewis, PhD is an award-winning science communicator whose work has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, TED, and NBC, among others. She is currently a policy research fellow working to understand the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine.
Accomplishments (3)
Outstanding Member of the Year (professional)
2017-07-01
Nu Rho Psi National Neuroscience Honor Society
Dean's Award for Scholarly Achievement (professional)
2017-05-01
Penn State College of Medicine
Linda L. Flickinger Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Neuroscience (professional)
2017-05-01
Penn State College of Medicine
Education (2)
Penn State University: Ph.D., Neuroscience 2016
St. Mary's College of Maryland: B.A., Biology, Neuroscience 2011
Links (5)
Media Appearances (3)
Here’s what happens to your brain when you give up sugar for Lent
MetroUK online
2017-03-01
It’s that time of year again, when lots of us try to do something utterly insane – and ditch chocolate bars and other sweet treats for Lent.
Loss of sleep during adolescence may be a diabetes danger
Penn State News online
2016-02-13
How much slow-wave sleep a teenage boy gets may predict whether he is at risk for insulin resistance and other health issues, according to Jordan Gaines, a Penn State neuroscience researcher.
The 30 Top Thinkers Under 30: the Science Writer Who Wants to Understand How Sleep Affects Our Health
Pacific Standard online
2014-04-23
When Jordan Gaines Lewis was in middle school, her friends would divulge their deepest secrets to her over AOL Instant Messenger. “They expected me to counsel them,” she says, “so naturally I thought I'd make a great psychiatrist.” In high school, she says, “I used all my Barnes & Noble gift cards on books about the brain. The mysteries of this organ kept me coming back for more.”
Articles (5)
Obstructive sleep apnoea and depression: is there an association?
European Respiratory Journal
Edward O. Bixler, Jordan Gaines, Alexandros N. Vgontzas
2017 In the study by Kendzerska et al. [1] published in this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, it is reported that obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and severity measures, such as the apnoea/hypopnea index, are not related to the risk of hospitalisation for depression. The sample of the study was large with >10 000 subjects, and the follow-up period was long, ∼10 years. The investigators focused on the more severe phenotype of the disorder that requires inpatient treatment to avoid possible misdiagnosis, which is more likely in milder cases, due to overlapping symptoms between OSA and depression.
Increased inflammation from childhood to adolescence predicts sleep apnea in boys: A preliminary study
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Jordan Gaines, Alexandros N Vgontzas, Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Fan He, Susan L Calhoun, Duanping Liao, Edward O Bixler
2017 While chronic systemic inflammation in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been traditionally considered a consequence of intermittent hypoxia, several treatment studies targeting inflammation suggest that this process may precede the development of the disorder. A recent cross-sectional study in the Penn State Child Cohort (PSCC) revealed that inflammation largely mediates the association between visceral adiposity and OSA in adolescence. The purpose of this study was to examine for the first time whether, longitudinally, inflammation precedes OSA during this developmental period. A subsample of the PSCC with longitudinal sleep and inflammation data (n = 51) was included in this study. Participants underwent 9-h polysomnography (22:00–7:00), physical exam, and fasting morning blood draw at both time points. Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured via ELISA. At follow-up, visceral, subcutaneous, and total fat area were assessed via dual X-ray absorptiometry. Sex differences in body composition emerged in adolescence, with boys having more visceral adiposity than girls. Longitudinal increases in waist circumference from childhood to adolescence were associated with increases in CRP (ΔCRP) and follow-up CRP in boys, but not girls. Furthermore, in boys, ΔCRP was associated with higher follow-up apnea/hypopnea index (AHI). When ΔCRP was entered into a model predicting follow-up AHI, Δwaist circumference was no longer significant, indicating that inflammation largely explains the association between increasing central obesity and OSA severity. These preliminary findings, in a longitudinal, non-clinical sample of children developing OSA, suggest that inflammation derived from visceral adipose tissue precedes the development of the disorder, suggesting a potential causal mechanism.
Insomnia symptoms with objective short sleep duration are associated with systemic inflammation in adolescents
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Joshua H Baker, Alexandros N Vgontzas, Jordan Gaines, Duanping Liao, Edward O Bixler
2017 Inflammation has been suggested as a potential pathway by which insomnia and short sleep can affect risk of morbidity in adults. However, few studies have examined the association of insomnia with inflammation in adolescents, despite accumulating evidence that pathophysiologic changes may already occur during this critical developmental period. The present study sought to examine the association of insomnia symptoms with systemic inflammation and the role of objective sleep duration in this association. Participants were 378 adolescents (16.9 ± 2.3 y, 45.8% female) from the Penn State Child Cohort, a population-based sample who underwent 9-h polysomnography (PSG) followed by a single fasting blood draw to assess plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and other inflammatory markers. Insomnia symptoms were defined by a self-report of difficulties falling and/or staying asleep, while objective sleep duration groups were defined as a PSG total sleep time ⩾8, 8–7, and ⩽7 h. We assessed the association of insomnia symptoms, objective sleep duration, and their interaction with inflammatory markers, while adjusting for multiple potential confounders. Adolescents reporting insomnia symptoms had significantly higher levels of CRP compared to controls and a significant interaction (p < 0.01) showed that objective sleep duration modified this association. Elevated CRP was present in adolescents with insomnia symptoms and ⩽7 h of sleep (1.79 mg/L) as compared to controls or adolescents with insomnia symptoms and ⩾8 h of sleep (0.90 mg/L and 0.98 mg/L, respectively) or controls with ⩽7 h of sleep (0.74 mg/L; all p-values
Insomnia Phenotypes Based on Objective Sleep Duration in Adolescents: Depression Risk and Differential Behavioral Profiles
Brain Science
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Susan L Calhoun, Alexandros N Vgontzas, Yun Li, Jordan Gaines, Duanping Liao, Edward O Bixler
2016 Based on previous studies on the role of objective sleep duration in predicting morbidity in individuals with insomnia, we examined the role of objective sleep duration in differentiating behavioral profiles in adolescents with insomnia symptoms. Adolescents from the Penn State Child Cohort (n = 397, ages 12–23, 54.7% male) underwent a nine-hour polysomnography (PSG), clinical history, physical examination and psychometric testing, including the Child or Adult Behavior Checklist and Pediatric Behavior Scale. Insomnia symptoms were defined as a self-report of difficulty falling and/or staying asleep and objective “short” sleep duration as a PSG total sleep time ≤7 h. A significant interaction showed that objective short sleep duration modified the association of insomnia symptoms with internalizing problems. Consistently, adolescents with insomnia symptoms and short sleep duration were characterized by depression, rumination, mood dysregulation and social isolation, while adolescents with insomnia symptoms and normal sleep duration were characterized by rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors and, to a lesser extent, rumination. These findings indicate that objective sleep duration is useful in differentiating behavioral profiles among adolescents with insomnia symptoms. The insomnia with objective short sleep duration phenotype is associated with an increased risk of depression earlier in the lifespan than previously believed.
Objective, but Not Subjective, Sleepiness is Associated With Inflammation in Sleep Apnea
Sleep
Yun Li, Alexandros N Vgontzas, Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Ilia Kritikou, Maria Basta, Slobodanka Pejovic, Jordan Gaines, Edward O Bixler
2016 Objective and subjective measures of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) are only weakly associated. No study, however, has examined whether these two measures of EDS differ in terms of underlying mechanisms and prognostic value. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, that is, interleukin-6 (IL-6) appear to promote sleepiness/fatigue, while the stress hormone cortisol promotes vigilance. We hypothesized that objective sleepiness is associated with increased levels of IL-6 and decreased levels of cortisol.
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